


Love Finds a Way

by ShootingStar13



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Anxiety, Badass Sokka (Avatar), Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Bisexual Zuko (Avatar), Blood and Violence, Bullying, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Child Abuse, Child Death, Child Murder, Childhood Trauma, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Fate, Fate & Destiny, Fluff and Angst, Gaang (Avatar) as Family, Hakoda (Avatar) is a Good Parent, Hurt Zuko (Avatar), Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Infanticide, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, M/M, Menstruation, Mild Blood, Minor Aang/Katara, Minor Canonical Character(s), Minor Original Character(s), Multi, Nature Versus Nurture, No Smut, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, POV Alternating, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Period-Typical Sexism, Physical Abuse, Plus They're Lovers, Protective Sokka (Avatar), Protective Zuko (Avatar), Protectiveness, References to Depression, Romantic Angst, Romantic Fluff, Romantic Gestures, Romantic Soulmates, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Doubt, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Self-Mutilation, Smart Sokka (Avatar), Sokka (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Suicidal Thoughts, Suki & Zuko (Avatar) Friendship, Suki Deserves Love, Suki Deserves Some Tags, Suki Gets a Backstory, Swordfighting, The Gaang Learns How Zuko Got The Scar (Avatar), Threesome - F/M/M, Toph Beifong and Zuko are Siblings, Zuko (Avatar) Angst, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:41:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 39,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24917743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShootingStar13/pseuds/ShootingStar13
Summary: Sokka is born with two marks, one mark indicates one of his soulmates will be from the Earth Kingdom, the other mark says his second soulmate will be from the Fire Nation. He rejects his second soulmate after his mother is killed by Fire Nation soldiers.Suki is born with two marks, one mark indicates that one of her soulmates will be from the Water Tribe, the other mark says her second soulmate will be from the Fire Nation. She spends her whole life needing to prove herself to her village and to her warriors that she is loyal to them and not to the Fire Nation despite what her soulmark says.Zuko is born with two marks, but he doesn't know what his marks look like or what part of the world his soulmates are from because both of his soulmarks are now just scars inflicted upon him by his father when he decided that his son was weak for having soulmates in the first place and was forbidden from ever finding them.But fate is an unstoppable force that can transcend any and all obstacles that stand in its path. It can even allow a relationship to develop and grow from the ashes of a century-long war.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Azula (Avatar)/Original Female Character(s), Bato/Hakoda (Avatar), Bato/Hakoda/Kya (Avatar), Bato/Kya, Fat/Piandao (Avatar), Hakoda/Kya (Avatar), Haru/Teo (Avatar), Ikem/Ursa (Avatar), Kyoshi/Rangi (Avatar), Lu Ten/Original Male Character(s), Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Sokka/Suki/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Yue (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Suki/Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong/Satoru (Avatar)
Comments: 75
Kudos: 908





	1. Trying

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please Read the Tags! 
> 
> Some parts of this fic will be really dark, especially this chapter where there is an explicit scene depicting self-harm, so if that's triggering for you, please proceed with caution.

Sokka sometimes thinks about the day that he talked with his mom, face full of snot and tears, about his soulmates and the promise he made to her regarding one of his soulmates. 

(And as encouraging and understanding as his mother had been, and as foggy as her memory would become; Sokka would always remember her words long after their talk, long after her death, and long after he finally meets the soulmate that would cause him the most sorrow).

Sokka is only five years old when he goes home early from a fishing trip with his fathers, tears streaming down bright red wind-blown cheeks, and snot running from his nose and down his chin like a polar bear pup with a cold. 

He’s running because two boys, Amaruq and Ujurak, were throwing snowballs at him after he showed them his soulmarks and he’s crying because they're also calling him names. This isn't the first time he's heard these names but it doesn't make them hurt any less.

The older boys are calling Sokka a lot of mean things, telling him that he's an ash-lover, a traitor to the tribe, a soot-licker, a fire-fucker, and a murderer when he is none of these things. Because he doesn’t know anyone from the Fire Nation and he is just Sokka, son of Chieftain Hakoda, Co-Chief Bato, and Chieftainess Kya. He wouldn't do any of the things Amaruq and Ujurak are insinuating because he loves his tribe and he wouldn't betray it. Nor would he ever become a murderer. 

Plus he's pretty sure soot doesn't taste good at all, so why would he lick it? 

Sokka runs as fast as his young legs can carry him. The cold air almost turns his tears to ice, and his sobs carry over the vast white hills of snow, matching the howl of the wind that allows his feet to fly himself safely home. 

His cries bring the other members of the tribe out of their warm huts and the sound of her son in distress brings Sokka's mother out from Gran-Gran’s hut, where she’s spending the afternoon skinning the pelts of the animals caught during yesterday’s hunting expedition. 

Through his tears, Sokka can see well enough so that he can run straight into his mother’s arms sobbing grossly onto the fur collar of her parka and burying himself in her warmth. 

“Sokka, my cub, what is wrong?” His mom asks as she lifts him into her arms and carries him back into Gran-Gran’s hut, away from the growing crowd. 

Sokka hears his mother ask him another question, this time in a much more serious tone, as they walk past the leather and furred curtains of the hut and into the communal area, “Sokka, where are your fathers?” 

“Fishing.” Is all that Sokka can choke out as an explanation before he’s set down in front of the firepit. He doesn’t even realize just how cold he is until he’s sticking his frozen hands against the comforting heat of the flames. 

Instantly, Sokka melts in the warmth of the hut as the intense scent of cooking meat hits his nose. He inhales deeply the familiar scent of food and home; the scents eventually help pacify him long enough so that he can calm down and talk to his mom, who's still incredibly concerned for her son. 

“Now, what’s got you so upset, love?” 

“Amaruq and Ujurak were throwing snowballs at me and calling me names while dad, papa, and Nukilik were bringing up the fishing nets.” 

“Why were they doing that?” Mom asks and Sokka can hear the angry but concerned mama-bear-wolf edge in her tone. 

“They told me my soulmark was bad,” Sokka says as his mother sits down beside him. “They called me a traitor and a murderer and another word I can’t say because it’s bad.” Sokka looks away from his mother’s sad cerulean eyes and looks down instead, tears threatening to bubble up again, but he manages to swallow them down for the time being. 

Sokka's eyes focus on his wrists instead.

Standing out against warm sepia skin are two soulmarks, one on each wrist, signifying the two people that Sokka is destined to be with forever; as romantic partners, as best friends, and as family. 

The soulmark that Sokka doesn’t ever have a problem with depicts a pair of gold fans. The fans, inked permanently into his skin by fate, are spread open and crossed over each other so that the bottom of the fans touch, while a green ribbon ties itself around the base of the fans in a neat thin bow. 

The mark on his left wrist belongs to someone from the Earth Kingdom according to his Gran-Gran, who told him of a friend she had from the Northern Tribe who had an Earth Kingdom soulmate and who left the tribe after his 21st birthday to search for them. 

But the soulmark that has people staring at Sokka like they’re staring into the hungry jaws of a leopard seal-shark depicts a pair of twin swords. The dual swords etched into his skin are crossed at the blades, curved upward as if they are cradling something precious, and tied to the hilt of one of the two blades is a red ribbon that is wrapped delicately into a bow that is almost floral-shaped. 

The mark on his right wrist indicates that soulmate hails from the Fire Nation and Sokka knows, from stories told by tribe elders, that the Fire Nation is bad. They’ve killed and kidnapped dozens of waterbenders from their tribe, colonized the Earth Kingdom, and destroyed the Air Nomads in the wake of their unjust war. 

But Sokka also knows that whatever spirit out there that is the one that decides on people's soulmates, wouldn’t be cruel enough to give Sokka and whoever his second soulmate is, a Fire Nation citizen as their third. 

Or at least he hopes so.

Sokka looks back up at his mother, who’s kneeling in front of him now, her soft hands gently holding his wrists. It often surprises Sokka that his mother could cradle both of his wrists with the same level of tenderness and the same show of affection, despite knowing that the soulmark on his right wrist belongs to someone who’s been born from the destructive element of fire and the spilled blood of millions of innocent people. 

“Sokka, those boys have no right to say those things to you.” His mom tells him, her voice stern. 

“But aren’t they right?” Sokka asks, a tiny fit of anger and guilt bubbling inside him. He doesn’t understand why he's been cursed with a bad person for a soulmate, it’s not fair to him or to his Earth Kingdom-born soulmate that they have someone from the Fire Nation as their soulmate. 

“No, love,” his mother tells him, “a person’s nation of birth does not dictate the character of their soul nor the capability for good in their hearts.” 

Sokka purses his lips at this and gives his mother a skeptical look. Not everyone from the Fire Nation is evil? But how? And if not all of them are bad, does that mean that not all people from the Water Tribe are good? Could someone from the village be just as evil as someone from the Fire Nation? 

“So..." Sokka frowns, "someone from the Southern Water Tribe could be just as evil as the Fire Lord who started the war?” 

“Very easily.” His mother says solemnly. 

"But why? Why are me and my other soulmate cursed with a third from the Fire Nation? I've heard Gran-Gran's stories, they stole our people and they're killing hundreds of innocent people..."

"I don't think either you or your Earth soulmate is cursed." His mom tells him.

"But the Fire Nation is bad..." Sokka mutters. 

"Your soulmate is your age Sokka," Mom says, "they are not of the ones who've taken our people in the raids nor are they of the ones on the battlefields in the Earth Kingdom territories, they haven't done anything bad." 

"Yet." Sokka spits and his mom gives him a look that is equally terrifying and funny because Mom doesn't ever make faces like this. 

"What if they never do anything bad?" His mom asks. "Would you be less inclined to hate them so much without even knowing them if you knew they were just as innocent in this war as you, Katara, and I?"

"So, they could be good then?" Sokka asks with wide eyes. 

His mother nods, a small smile on her lips, "You shouldn't be afraid of your soulmate if they've done nothing to hurt you," she tells him, "and you shouldn't feel ashamed if you know that you would never stand with a Fire Nation soulmate who could end up on the wrong side of the war." 

Sokka pouts his lips, thinking about what his mom is saying and finds himself agreeing with her. Because she's right, if his soulmate hasn't done anything wrong then Sokka doesn't have a reason to be scared. 

"Sokka, you are blessed, two soulmates from two other nations is a blessing, and I hope when the time comes, you'll embrace both your soulmates with the same amount of love and understanding they deserve." 

"I think I can do that Mama," Sokka says with a grin.

"That's my boy." She responds and then Sokka feels himself being pulled into his mother’s arms. Safety and warmth surround him from her embrace and Sokka sinks deeper into it, happy to forever remain in her loving arms. She kisses him on his forehead and then rubs her nose against his, before pressing another kiss onto each of his cheeks.

Sokka giggles from the affection and nuzzles his face into his mother's neck. 

“Can you show me your marks...please?” Sokka asks her, wanting to gain least some extra sense of reassurance that the spirits are kind when it comes to assigning people their soulmates. Because he's still a little uncertain despite promising his mother he'd accept and love his Fire Nation soulmate no matter what. 

And his mom smiles as she carries Sokka onto the cot in the corner of the hut, where Gran-Gran usually has sick or injured patients rest when they need her healing skills. 

Sokka is then tucked into his mother’s lap and she smiles as she pulls down her sleeves and reveals the beautiful soulmarks on her wrists. 

“This one,” she says pointing to the mark depicting a grey wolf howling up at a pale yellow full moon with a dark blue ribbon tied to the wolf's bushy tail, “belongs to your dad.” 

Sokka reaches his hand out and lets his thumb brush against the soulmark, it’s a beautiful soulmark, a mark that would stay its vibrant color for years without the worry of fading to the inevitability of time. The soulmark would only ever fade into a grey-scale color if his father died before his mother. But Sokka doesn’t like to think about that factoid of soulmarks. 

“And this one,” his mother continues, taking Sokka out of his thoughts, “belongs to your papa.” She says pointing to the mark depicting a silver crescent moon floating and reflecting itself over the line in the sky meets the sea, and floating on the sea is a Water Tribe ship with a bright blue ribbon is tied around the post where the flag usually goes. 

“The bows of someone soulmark tells them which nation their soulmate is from.” Sokka’s mother tells him, though it’s something he already knows, he figures the explanation has to do with his current soulmate trouble. 

So Sokka listens intently to what his mother has to tell him. 

“Blue ribbons symbolize that a soul is from the water tribe.” She says as her forefinger delicately traces the ribbons on her twin marks, both in varying shades of blue on her copper-tone wrists. “Green ribbons symbolize that a soul is from the Earth Kingdom.” She adds as she reaches down to trace the ribbon on Sokka’s left soulmark, and he giggles because the softness of her touch tickles against his skin. “And red ribbons symbolize that a soul is from the Fire Nation.” She finishes her explanation by tracing the outline of the ribbon on Sokka’s right soulmark, before gently poking Sokka’s nose. 

Sokka giggles again at the action, his tears and fears are long forgotten. 

“So my soulmate might be good after all?”

“They might be the kindest, most honorable, and most amazing person from the Fire Nation out there.”

“I hope they are…” Sokka mutters, then his mind wanders to his sister, her soulmark ribbon isn't blue, green or red, and probably represents no one from either of the three nations. “Why is Katara’s mark yellow then, does that mean her soulmate isn’t tied to a nation?” Sokka asks and notices his mother’s gaze fall. 

“Yellow ribbons are supposed to be the color for the Air Nation.” 

Sokka blinks, feeling sad for his sister now because this has to be a joke, the spirits can’t be that awful!

“But aren’t they all dead?” Sokka wonders. 

“We can’t possibly know that now can we?” His mother asks him and Sokka shakes his head. “If the Spirits can grace you with a kind soulmate hailing from Fire Nation, then maybe things aren’t as bleak as some say they are,” She smiles as she speaks, hopefulness gleaming in her eyes, “there may be some Air Nomads still alive, maybe they’re in hiding, and one of the descendants of the survivors just happens to be your sister’s soulmate.” 

“I hope so…” Sokka mutters. “I don’t want Katara to be soulmate-less.” 

“Very few people are born without a soulmate,” his mom explains, “and those people who are born without soulmates are cold and lonely people cursed to forever wander the living world with an incomplete soul.” 

Sokka nods in understanding and before he can ask her anything else his fathers burst through the curtains and into the igloo, panting hard from running and both of them have worry painted over their faces. 

“Sokka.” They both exhale with newfound relief and Sokka looks up at his fathers and tears himself away from his mother so that he can reach out to his fathers. Both men quickly grab onto him and pull him in for a hug, sandwiching the small boy in between their still heaving chests. 

Sokka goes to bed that night, hoping—praying—that his mother’s words will ring true. He prays that the spirits aren’t cruel enough to give him an evil soulmate from the Fire Nation and he prays that the spirits aren’t even more heartless enough to give his sister a century-year-old rotting corpse from a dead nation as a soulmate. 

But Sokka quickly learns that the spirits are wicked in every sense of the word and they don’t care for the people who put their faith in their fictive kindness; they don't care about anything at all. 

**~*~*~**

Sokka remembers the day his mother was killed protecting his sister, even though it's not a day he likes to remember.

(And it's after this that the memory of his mother is swiftly and yet quietly replaced by Katara who stepped up in her place in the weeks following her death). 

Sokka remembers his baby sister, only eight years old, telling him she is going to find their mom in all the chaos around them. He remembers letting her go without him. He remembers running, weaving through warriors fighting against soldiers and women, children, and elders trying to seek shelter. He remembers trying to find his fathers, terrified for their lives, but not giving up his search. He remembers finding them at the forefront of the battle against the raiders; Fire Nation naval soldiers, their ship waving a banner with Sea Ravens painted black against a plain burgundy background.

But what Sokka remembers the most is the screaming, the crying, and the smell of hot ash clinging to the cold air as soot falls from the sky, staining the pure white snow below ugly and grey. 

Sokka also remembers the raiders beginning to retreat after some time and just when he foolishly thinks that they’ve won, he suddenly hears his fathers screaming in agony, hands clenching around their wrists as they both fall to the ground in tears. 

The worst immediately goes through Sokka’s mind and he knows he needs to find his mom and Katara. Now. 

He runs back home, sprinting past wounded tribe members and dodging the unmoving figures of Fire Nation soldiers and Water Tribe Warriors alike. He has tears in his eyes when he comes through the curtains of the hut because he already knows.

And his fears ring true, because, laying out before him, is his mother’s lifeless body.

Katara is kneeling, sobbing over their mother. There’s blood pooling from a gash in her neck, spilling out hot onto the floor, and melting the once ivory snow into bright scarlet water. It resembles something like spilled wine, flowing slowly like a river down the slope of the entrance to the igloo. 

He won't ever be able to get the sight and smell out of his head. 

“They killed her!” Katara screams but it sounds muffled to Sokka. He just stares at his mom, he can’t move, he can’t think, he can’t breathe.

Why did this have to happen? She was innocent!

Sokka staggers back, nearly falling on his bottom, when Gran-Gran quickly enters the hut and grabs Katara around her waist, pulling her away from their mother.

Sokka shakes his head, this is just a dream he tells himself, a horrible terrifying nightmare that his mother will wake him up from.

But it's not a dream. It’s sick and cruel reality.

Rage flashes in Sokka’s eyes as he stares down at his mother and a sob escapes his throat as he hears his sister’s cries from outside the house. 

His fathers are carried in moments later. They’re both limping and two of the tribe's youngest warriors, Tuktu and Ikiaq, are the ones helping them into the room. 

Sokka watches as his dad falls not his knees and carefully lifts his mom into his lap, gently cradling her limp body in his arms, sobbing loudly and not bothering to care for the blood running from her wound and onto his clothes, forever staining them. His papa nearly faints at the sight but Ikiaq holds him up for a moment longer before sitting him down on the opposite side of his dad. His papa chokes on a sob and he grabs onto his mother’s hand, the side his mark is on, and he cries as he whispers prayers for her to safely move on into the afterlife. 

Gran-Gran comes back to escort Sokka out of the hut and takes him into her home where Katara likely is so that they can give their parents the privacy to mourn over the loss of their soulmate. 

That night, as the tribe sits vigil for his mother and as his fathers continue to sob over his mother’s cold and lifeless body, Sokka gets up from the bed he's been sitting on for the past few hours. He’s supposed to be sleeping with Katara to watch her and make sure she's resting after she manages to cry herself into exhaustion.

But Sokka needs to do something to ease the pain in his heart. He then sneaks past his grandmother and into the kitchen and takes out the sharpest knife he can find amongst the dozens of knives in the storage bin.

Not wanting to disturb his grieving family and the rest of the tribe keeping vigil, Sokka silently leaves around the back of the village and trudges over the hills of ice and through the falling snow to get as far away from the tribe as possible. He wants to be out far enough so that no one will hear him when he does what he’s about to do to himself. 

Sokka finds himself secluded, far away enough from the village that he doesn't think anyone will hear him, and by an iceberg gently floating in the freezing waters below. Sokka knows that needs to do this now and he can't afford to let anyone hear him and risk them trying to stop him. 

Sokka lets out a choking sound as he stares down at his soulmark. His stomach rolls, his fists clench, and his breathing becomes shallow and almost painful when he looks at it.

He can never love and accept his Fire Nation soulmate now.

Especially not after today. 

The Fire Nation killed his mother and Sokka can’t find himself ever loving someone who comes from a country of cold-blooded murderers. How could he? No good person would just sit back and let all this pain and suffering happen to innocent people! 

Sokka swallows down any propensity of hesitation and he quickly stuffs his mouth with a balled-up pair of wool socks he brought with him. He then takes the knife in his left hand and holds it up to his opposite wrist, mentally preparing himself for the pain that is about to come.

But the physical pain won't ever come close to the amount of emotional pain he's feeling. 

Carefully, he nicks the skin just above his soulmark, and the blood quickly swells into the cut. Dark red liquid pools hot against his cold skin and it slowly starts to drip down the side of his arm. Sokka watches as his own blood falls from his self-inflicted cut and onto the snow like teardrops, sinking through the soft white powder and onto the icy ground below. 

Sokka proceeds to pull the blade of the knife down against the skin of his wrist, quickly and yet carefully he slices away the mark of his Fire Nation soulmate like he’s skinning the pelt of an arctic hare. 

He hisses in pain and lets his agony out in low ragged breaths through the thick material of the wool socks in his mouth. And as he cuts aways at his soulmark, Sokka stifles the screams bubbling in his chest, clenching his teeth hard around the gag. Without it, he probably would have bitten his tongue off too. 

After a couple of careful and long slices, the soulmark is cut clean off his wrist and though it hurts worse than any pain he's known before and though the blood pouring from the cut makes him nauseous, Sokka finds a sickening satisfaction in the action of ridding himself of his soulmate.

He's rejecting them. He's rejecting their imperialist ideals, their ties to their murderous nation, and to any notion that puts Sokka in a position of betrayal. 

Taking the piece of cut skin, Sokka disposes of it in the icy water, watching it sink to the ocean floor, waiting for it to be lost forever to the darkness of the sea just like a painful memory to the inevitability of time. 

But despite the sick satisfaction he feels, Sokka still cries into the howling of the night air, sobbing loudly, as his heart breaks into a million jagged pieces.

He grieves for the loss of his mother. He grieves for his fathers' loss of their soulmate. He grieves for Katara and Gran-Gran.

And though he denies it, he even grieves for the loss of his soulmate. 

Sokka manages to stagger back to the tribe by dawn. He’s dizzy and weak, exhausted from mutilating himself and from crying all night, but he keeps moving until he’s back home. 

When he makes it to his grandmother’s hut, Sokka finds the elderly woman treating his fathers for the fever that often comes with the death of a soulmate, broken heart syndrome, as she often calls it.

Gran-Gran is also trying to coax Katara out of bed to have her help her with the healing process by mixing the medicine, but it's probably just an excuse to get Katara to distract herself. Instead, Katara lays in the cot between their fathers, unmoving and still crying. 

Gran-Gran turns to look at Sokka and greets him, welcoming him in, but once she sees the state that he's in and notices what he’s done to himself she ushers him onto the second cot in the room and begins healing him.

(His fathers and sisters are too out of it to comment on Sokka's act of cutting out his soulmate but when they come to in the weeks to come, they seem to be proud that he'd been willing to reject his soulmate for them, even though they also seem incredibly sad about it). 

“It’ll leave a nasty scar.” Gran-Gran tells Sokka matter-of-factly, “you didn’t have to do that to yourself.” She then adds as she applies some pasty green medicine onto his wrist. 

And Sokka can only laugh through his tears as his grandmother bandages the cut. And though the boiled seaweed and seal-eel compotes sting against his throbbing wound, elevating his pain, and though he feels like throwing up despite having not eaten anything since yesterday morning, Sokka would go through cutting off his soulmark again if given the chance.

He decides at that moment that he’ll never take the bandages off his wrist because he’d rather die than be reminded of the soulmate that came from the same nation that killed his mother. 

**~*~*~**

It's been over two years since his fathers went to help the Earth Kingdom in the war and every day since then Sokka has made it his goal to protect his sister and his tribe in their absence. And surprisingly, things in the tribe have been quiet, oddly enough so. The most that happens in the tribe is the occasional messenger traveling back to give those left behind a letter from their loved ones from the battlefield. 

But nothing can stay quiet forever and everything changes when Katara gets so pissed off at him that she uses her water magic against an iceberg and breaks it in half, releasing a twelve-year-old kid from the ice. 

Instantly, the kid and Katara know they're soulmates upon meeting, and Katara, ever the hopeful optimist, happily takes the ice kid's hand in hers and is ready to introduce him to the tribe. Then they learn that he's an Airbender and the Avatar and well that throws everything on its head because instantly Katara wants to travel the world with the kid to find him a waterbending master (and one for her too) so he can master all the elements and put an end to the war. 

Sokka hates the idea of course, but the kids in the village are too amazed by Aang to have an objective opinion, and the elders are in too much shock that the tale of the Avatar from their childhoods is actually true to actively weigh in on the notion. 

The Avatar may be Katara's soulmate but he's not letting his baby sister travel the world unprotected and with a stranger. He doesn't even trust the kid in the first place because why was he even in the iceberg and how come he talks like the Air Nation is alive and the Fire Nation is good.

Sokka almost forgets that speaking about evil manifests it into existence. So now the fucking Fire Nation is crashing into the village and they're demanding they give up Aang, and Aang, ever the martyr, just surrenders on the condition the village stays unharmed. 

He really is Katara's soulmate, Sokka decides when he realizes that the two are too much alike in their ways of thinking and acting. Which is why Sokka decides he needs to be the logical, realist, mediator, of the two on their journey or they'll be eaten alive either literally by Aang's giant bison or some other creature or by the Fire Nation Prince who's hell-bent on capturing Aang and taking him to the Fire Lord. 

And all the craziness that follows after Katara releases Aang from his 100-year nap, is not something Sokka ever envisioned for himself the day his fathers left him with the mission to protect Katara. Because now he’s hundreds of miles away from home and he’s riding on the fucking flying bison, traveling with his sister and the Avatar, who’s an Airbender, the last of his people, and also Katara’s soulmate.

Because this is a perfectly normal thing for a fifteen-year-old to experience. 

And just when it seems like he’s got his mind wrapped around the weirdness that is his life now, Sokka’s days just keep getting weirder.

They find themselves on some island because Aang (a kid he's convinced cannot die given he's been frozen in ice for a hundred years and also manages to tame wild animals long enough to ride them) wants to take yet another detour and ride the elephant koi native to the seas of some island that remains unnamed on Sokka’s map. 

Things only escalate from there because then there’s a giant eel thing emerging from the ocean trying to eat Aang and as the kid literally runs on the surface of the water to get away, Sokka is left to wonder what strange hallucinative plants he’s on right now to be having such a strange dream. But logically he knows it’s no dream. This is his reality now after all. 

And just when they think they’re safe from deadly animals they’re ambushed by a group of deadly warriors. And it's to Sokka's dismay and surprise that the warriors all happen to be girls. 

Thankfully Aang is trying to convince the girls that he was their island’s namesake, Kyoshi, in a past life. And lucky them, Aang’s childish airbending skills do the trick of convincing the people that he is the Avatar. 

The people of Kyoshi Island let them go and happily welcome them to their village, but Sokka is still not happy because he can’t just let himself get beaten by a bunch of girls! He’s supposed to be a great warrior of the Southern Water Tribe! He’s supposed to be strong enough, be man enough to protect his sister and the women, the children, and the elders of his tribe! But instead, he gets his ass handed to him by a bunch of girls in dresses prancing around with their fans playing warrior like it's a normal thing for them to be doing when there are perfectly healthy and able men living on the island to do it for them. 

Then it hits him. 

These girls use fans.

_Gold fans._

Just like the fans on his soulmark! 

So now, while Aang is getting praise for being the Avatar and while Katara pretends to not be jealous of a bunch of girls ogling her soulmate, Sokka tries to scope out the girls’ training session to find his soulmate. He also decides he should get a chance to show off his superior warrior skills without being unfairly ambushed.

Sokka knows that when he meets his soulmate he'll just know, he'll feel it, something, pulling him to the person he's destined to be with. Katara and Aang have explained to him that it felt like they were both starving for a long time and then, in an instant, it felt like they ate a huge buffet and were so full that they'd never need to eat again. The analogy makes sense, at least it does to Sokka, and he's excited to feel it. And despite not being the most spiritual person in the world, he figures he'll make an exception for the spiritual process that goes into the logic behind soulmates.

But Sokka also knows, deep down, that he won't ever be full in the way that Aang and Katara were when they met each other and realized they were each other's soulmates. Because Sokka still has a second soulmate that he has no intention of seeking out. And really, he doesn't care even if he'll never be a complete soul without them. Because he wants nothing to do with his soulmate born from the Fire Nation. 

Sokka, in his quest to find the one soulmate he does want to meet, tries to show off to the girls his Water Tribe fighting skills but fails miserably at both winning against one of the girls in a fight and finding his soulmate amongst them. He leaves defeated in more ways than one and wonders how he could have possibly managed this long protecting his little sister when it's painfully evident that he can easily be taken down. 

And he also realizes it's a miracle the Fire Prince didn't burn down his village when he had the chance. 

Sokka decides to return to their dojo later on during the day, after realizing that he's been a complete fool and isn't as strong or as great a warrior as he thinks he is. So he sucks up his pride and bows to girls in front of him and asks them for some real fighting lessons and he hopes to not get shot down so bad that he can keep his dignity intact. 

The girls’ captain, Suki, allows for an exception to be made for him so he can train under the ways of the Kyoshi Warriors and Sokka is glad they’re willing to do this for him. And as he finds himself wearing a dress and makeup of all things, he realizes something fairly quickly into his training sessions with Suki, that she is an incredible warrior and he hopes that she is his soulmate. 

The afternoon quickly ends and as the sun sets against the horizon, Sokka wonders if he should even ask Suki if she or any of the girls have a Water Tribe soulmate especially after he'd been such a jerk. But he swallows down the pit in his stomach and decides he'll try to get himself to ask her. 

“I might’ve had ulterior motives for wanting to learn to fight from you beyond just needing lessons,” Sokka mutters as he and Suki sit on the steps of the dojo after their sparring session. Sokka is still in full Kyoshi dress and makeup and he has to admit the skirt makes his waist look incredible. Plus he doesn't look so bad with red-tinted lips either. But he's not going to admit any of that openly. 

“Oh?” Suki questions, looking at him with wide eyes. 

Sokka smiles and lifts up the sleeve on his left arm, exposing his wrist and his soulmark. 

He smiles as he shows it off to Suki, “your fans, the one you and the other Kyoshi Warriors use to fight with, they look like this don’t they?” He asks her, allowing hope to swell in his chest. He doesn't even take a moment to breathe before he asks, “do any of the girls here have a Water Tribe mark?” 

Suki’s dark blue eyes go wide as she stares at Sokka's mark and then she nods before quickly lifting her sleeve. And Sokka understands immediately why Suki is also lifting her sleeve.

“Yeah, me.” She says in awe, revealing the soulmark on her right wrist. 

Sokka peers over at the mark; Suki's soulmark depicts a crystal clear image of his boomerang, in full silver and blue color, crossed over the blade of a sword, a weapon he's never seen or used before. But the sword is beautiful, it looks to be made of a black-tinted iron and tied around the hilt of the sword, is a dark blue ribbon, wrapping itself in a little bow. 

Suki is his soulmate and the sensation overcomes him. He feels it. He feels the wave of joy and love wash over him, filling his soul the way soulmates are supposed to. He feels like a shipwrecked man being rescued. He feels like an orphaned polar bear dog finding its pack. He feels like a plant drinking in the first rays of sunlight after a long winter. He feels like he's been reborn. 

He feels incredible. 

“We’re soulmates.” Sokka finally breathes. He can’t take his eyes off Suki's mark. 

"We're soulmates," Suki repeats, exhaling an equally relieved breath. Sokka wonders if she feels the same way he's feeling and immediately he throws his arms over Suki's shoulders and pulls her in for a hug. 

"This is amazing! I've found you! I can't wait to tell everyone else!" Sokka grins as he pulls away from the hug. Suki smiles, but looks down, unsure of herself. Sokka wants to frown and ask her what's wrong but is still too elated by the serotonin he's getting from meeting his soulmate. 

And for a brief second, Sokka worries that she doesn't want him, which makes his stomach fall and his throat seize. But he holds back the bad thoughts and lets Suki speak for herself. 

“Do...do you have the third?” Suki asks, her voice quiet, shy, and unlike the rest of her bold personality. 

Sokka frowns at the mention of their third but nods anyway. But it makes sense now why she would go quiet and grow more reserved. She probably hates their third just as much as he does. 

“I do… " he says and sighs, "I mean.." His voice trails off and he decides it's better he just shows her. So he lifts up his other sleeve and points to the bandages permanently covering his wrist. "I used to have a third mark… but I cut it off after the Fire Nation killed my mother.” He explains sorrowfully. 

Suki gives him an equally sad look, one of sympathy, and extends her hand until it rests on the exposed white bandages on his wrist. “I’m sorry.” She tells him. 

And his, 'it's fine, it happened a long time ago' goes unsaid. 

Instead, Sokka takes hold of Suki's hand, the one on his bandages and holds it tight, “my mom told me when I was being bullied by a couple of the older boys for my mark, that a person’s nation of birth does not dictate the character of their soul nor the capability for good in their hearts…” Sokka swallows down the urge to cry and manages it successfully, “she told me I should embrace this soulmate with the same love and acceptance I would you...but I couldn’t carry it anymore…not after she was murdered for protecting my sister.”

“I understand…” Suki tells him. “Growing up, I always had to prove myself and my loyalty because of this mark." And Sokka nods in understanding. He wonders, should they ever meet their third, would they have a sob story to go along with their marks? Soka may hate them, but he can only imagine what the Fire Nation would do to someone with non-Fire Nation soulmates. 

"I know there were members of my tribe that were sometimes afraid I was going to betray the tribe for the Fire Nation… but my dads and grandmother would set them straight if the comments ever got excessively nasty." Sokka tells Suki. 

"I always had to show everyone that I would be a capable leader to the Kyoshi Warriors despite my mark…some people worried I'd bring my girls to fight on the side of the Fire Natio.”

“Do you still have the mark?” Sokka asks and realizes that if Suki was caused just as much grief for her mark, that she might be capable of doing the same thing he had.

But Suki nods and says, "I still have it, but I often cover it up."

“May I see it?” Sokka asks, ignoring the feeling of fear eating away at his chest.

Suki nods again and lifts her sleeve on her right arm. She then removes a brown scarf from her wrist and shows Sokka the soulmark of their third, the same mark he cut from his skin so many years ago. 

Sokka remembers the mark having dual swords and how they crossed. But what he remembers the most is the red ribbon wrapped in a bow around one of the sword's hilts and what it represents. 

"Do you think they're a non-bender like us since they fight with swords?" Sokka finds himself asking. 

"Maybe," Suki says. "If they're a firebender there should be no need for them to learn swordsmanship." 

"Maybe they have a different meaning then if they are a bender?" Sokka says though the idea of a firebending soulmate sounds much worse than one just from the Fire Nation. Because fire is destruction, it's death, and it's pain and Sokka doesn't want any more death and pain in his life. That's part of the reason why he wants to help Katara and Aang on their journey, not just so he can keep an eye on his sister. 

“My mothers always told me that marks depicting weapons meant we would always fight for each other. " Suki tells Sokka, taking him out of his head. 

“Are they?” Sokka's voice trails off and thankfully Suki understands what he's trying to ask. 

“My mothers are still alive, they're both on a boat somewhere in the eastern seas causing trouble for any Fire Nation ships heading their direction." She smiles, a little sadly, and Sokka understands because he too misses his parents. 

Sokka then throws his arms around Suki’s waist, hugging her again but tighter than before. 

“I’m so happy that I’ve found you,” Sokka tells her and Suki returns the embrace. 

“I am too.” She tells him and Sokka smiles, he’s the happiest he’s been in a long time and he knows it's because he's finally met the other part of his missing soul.

The two of them go back to training after their heart-to-heart and as they go through the motions, Sokka finally thinks he’s getting the hang of the Kyoshi fighting style. It's different from Water Tribe style but Sokka is happy to be learning it from the best.

Sokka and Suki are on the ground, locked in a struggle, and then Suki thrusts her hand, holding her fan forward, but her move is quickly blocked and Sokka grins at that, impressed with himself. Suki shares the same grin, it's one of pride and she praises him, telling Sokka that he’s not bad and is making progress which is certainly a step up from earlier when he was making a fool of himself. 

But their moment is ruined when the village leader rushes into the dojo. 

“Firebenders have landed on our shores!” The old man yells and Suki immediately turns towards him, a look of determination on her face. “Girls, come quickly!” The old guy calls and though Sokka wants to protest and explain to the old man that he is not a girl, he decides there are more pressing matters at the moment and runs off with the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors to help them against the Fire Nation. 

Of course, it’s the Fire Prince again trying to capture Aang again. This time, however, he's being far more destructive than he had been in the South Pole because he’s setting the village on fire as he fights against Aang and Katara. 

Katara tells them that their only option is to run, to avoid any more damage happening to the village and Aang agrees, Sokka does too but he needs more time, he still needs to tell Suki he's sorry and hug her one last time before he leaves her for who knows how long. 

Quickly, while Aang goes to get Appa, Suki pulls Sokka away from the fight so they can talk. 

“There's no time to say goodbye,” Suki says sadly. 

“What about, I’m sorry?” 

“For what?” Suki asks, surprised. 

“I treated you like a girl when I should've treated you like a warrior,” Sokka tells her regretfully. 

“I am a warrior,” Suki tells him. Then she pulls Sokka closer and plants a kiss onto his cheek and Sokka doesn’t even register his hand raising to gently brush the phantom feeling of Suki’s lips on his skin. “But I’m a girl too.” She says. “And, I’m your soulmate.”

Sokka can feel a blush appear on his face, and though the war paint masks it, he knows that Suki is also blushing too.

“Now get out of here!” Suki says as she gets up to her feet, “we’ll hold them off.” 

Sokka nods and quickly runs towards Appa, jumping into the saddle and flying off.

But the village is still burning but thankfully it seems that the Fire Nation wants to follow them instead of stay behind to deal with the village and so they begin their retreat back to their ship. But Aang, ever the benevolent kid, can’t take the sight of all the destruction. So he decides to help and does something reckless, again, and jumps into the water while Sokka and Katara can only watch in shock. Aang somehow manages to get on the back of the Unagi’s head and makes the damn thing spit water all over the village to put out the flames and drowns the Fire Nation ship in the process. 

When Aang comes back, Katara hugs him tight and Sokka smiles, happy that his sister has such a wonderful soulmate. 

While on the flight to the next destination, Sokka stares down at his soulmark for the entire trip and grins, lovestruck and yet sad he couldn’t spend more time with Suki.

"So, you and Suki are soulmates huh?" Katara asks him with a wide smile that night as they make camp in some empty forest. 

Though Sokka didn't outwardly tell his sister that Suki is his soulmate, he had spent the entire dinner talking about her and their time together, so it comes as no shock to Sokka that Katara would figure out that they're soulmates off the bat. 

But then Sokka tells her, "yeah we are..." with a dopey grin and heart-filled eyes as he takes a moment from unpacking to explain, "and I get it...the feeling you and Aang told me about...I felt it and it was amazing," Sokka says.

"I'm so happy for you Sokka," Katara says, pausing her own unpacking to hug Sokka tight around his shoulders. "She seemed like a great match for you." She adds, snickering a little. Sokka sticks his tongue out at Katara and she mimics the action before returning to her things and unrolling her sleeping bag. 

"But it sucks that we only got a couple of hours together...I wished we had more time." Sokka admits aloud. 

"I'm sure you'll get to see her again and soon," Aang tells him optimistically and Sokka hopes the kid is right. If Sokka was a more selfish person, he would have probably stayed behind to be with her. But he isn't like that. So for now, he decides to stick with his sister and keep his promise he made to his fathers. He'll keep Katara safe, safer now than before with the skills he's learned from Suki and the other Kyoshi warriors, and Katara can still learn waterbending and help Aang on his quest to defeat the Fire Nation and finally win the war. 

**~*~*~**

So much happens after Sokka meets Suki that he can hardly keep all the events in chronological order. But he mostly blames that on the fact that for a good couple of days, he and Katara are sick with some illness that requires they suck on frozen frogs to cure themselves. 

But now that they’re better, they find themselves saving some delusional man from a platypus bear who claims some lady named Aunt Wu predicted that he’d have a safe trip when, clearly, that's not the case. 

Katara and Aang buy fully into the whole fortune-telling thing, Katara especially, so they drag Sokka along to the village the guy with a death wish is from to get their fortunes told. 

And of course, the fortune she has for him is ridiculous. 

“Your future is full of struggle and anguish,” Aunt Wu says dryly. “Most of it, self-inflicted.” She adds and Sokka frowns and sits down. 

Sokka decides then that fortune-telling is and will always be a scam. 

Sokka's thoughts on fortune-telling continue to get more pessimistic the longer he's at the village, especially when he, Aang, and Katara help save the village from a volcanic eruption, faulted by yet another wrong prediction by Aunt Wu. But since she said the village would not be destroyed, and of course, it isn't, thanks to Team Avatar, it technically means that Aunt Wu's prediction was right, even though the volcano did erupt and the lava did nearly destroy the village. 

Sokka groans when he notices Aunt Wu walking towards him after she finishes talking to Aang about his future or something. But Sokka doesn't have time for any more fortune-telling nonsense, he has vital planning and resupplying to do before they leave. 

“Your sister held near-blind faith towards my practice,” Aunt Wu says to him. “And yet you held such strong skepticism that it led to a lot of cynicism.” 

“I’m not one to believe in this sort of thing…”

“Because of the nature of your second soulmate?” 

Sokka stills and decides against saying anything so that maybe it won't give her hints to use against him in her mind-game masked as spiritual knowledge. 

“If the spirits say you’re meant to have a Fire Nation born soulmate it must mean that person holds a destiny just as important as the Avatar’s, don’t you think?” 

Again, Sokka stays silent. 

“You’ll meet them one day, when they’re ready to be accepted by you and when you’re ready to accept them, but not anytime sooner, and I’m sure your third will be equally ecstatic as well, the three of you will go on to be very important people.”

Sokka sighs, defeated, “thank you, Aunt Wu,” he says and the elderly woman smiles at him and bids him farewell before going to Katara to offer her some final words of wisdom as well. 

**~*~*~**

Sokka doesn’t dwell on Aunt Wu’s predictions since he knows it is a load of Komodo-Rhino shit but also because there isn’t much time in between leaving the village full of crazy spiritual people and Aang finding a Water Tribe weapon lying around. 

They follow the trail and come across the scene of a Southern Water Tribe ambush against Fire Nation Soldiers and then they find a lone Water Tribe ship. 

“Is this dad and papa’s ship?” Katara asks, hope gleaming in her bright blue eyes. 

“No, but it’s from their fleet.” Sokka smiles, equally hopeful that they'd at least find someone from their tribe nearby who could give him and Katara an update on their fathers. 

Sokka misses his fathers and he misses Suki and the weight of all that longing and fear of the unknown hurts. He hates how much it hurts and how it makes him feel like he's being weighed down by a boulder laying on the seafloor that's tied around his ankle, pulling him far enough down into the water that he's consumed by the waves and drowns. 

But he's lasted this long away from them that he should be able to handle it. 

Later that night while everyone else is sleeping, Sokka can only stare into the low orange and yellow flames of their campfire, remembering the day his fathers left him at home while they and the other men from the tribe went off to help the war efforts. 

_Sokka is ready, he’s just turned twelve years old, so he’s old enough to help in whatever ways he can. He wants the war over just as much as everyone else does and he wants the Fire Nation defeated as well._

_So, on the morning of the day that the men of the Southern Water Tribe are packing and getting ready to depart for the Earth Kingdom, Sokka runs from home, trudging through hills of ice and snow, his arms carrying a bundle of supplies far too large and much too heavy for him to carry, and his face is decorated in traditional Southern Water Tribe warrior war paint._

_He is ready to help. But it appears his fathers don’t think the same way._

_“I’m coming with you,” Sokka declares._

_“You're not old enough to go to war, Sokka, you know that.” His dad tells him._

_Desperately, Sokka gives his dad a pair of wide and pleading eyes, “I'm strong, I'm brave, I can fight! Please, Dad!”_

_“Being a man is knowing where you’re needed the most.” His papa says as he shows up from behind Sokka, placing a gentle yet firm hand on his shoulder._

_“And for you, right now, that’s here, protecting your sister.” His dad adds._

_Sokka notices his fathers sharing a worried look between each other and Sokka knows that they don’t want to leave him and Katara behind either, especially not so soon after they lost their mom. But they have a duty to their tribe as the chiefs to lead their warriors into battle, they have a duty to their kids as parents to make the world a safer place for them, and they have a duty to the world as people who live in it to make it a better one._

_Sokka knows that they have to leave now and without him, but that realization still doesn’t make things any less confusing for him._

_Sokka tries to hold back the sob climbing up the back of his throat and looks up to his father’s with glistening eyes, “I don’t understand.” He says quietly._

_“Someday you will.” His dad tells him._

_Sokka nods, despite still feeling clueless, but does it mainly to assure his fathers that he does understand enough of what they're telling him. Sokka then throws the supplies in his arms aside and launches himself into both his fathers’ arms._

_“We’re gonna miss you so much.” His papa says quietly._

_“We love you.” His dad adds and Sokka quietly cries as he buries his face into the warmth of his dad’s parka, enjoying what could be the last hug he’d ever receive from both of his dads._

Sokka’s memories are interrupted when he hears a sudden strange noise off into the distance. 

He stands up on alert for whatever threat that could be lurking out there. “Who’s there?” Sokka calls into the dark unknown displayed out in front of him and takes a firmer grasp on his boomerang. 

The noise gets closer and from the shadows, a man, wearing white bandages around the upper left area of his torso, emerges, his eyes wide and mouth hung open. 

“Sokka?”

Sokka's eyes widen in recognition.

“Papa!”

At that same moment, Aang and Katara wake up and Sokka can hear his sister’s elated voice carry over as Sokka begins sprinting down the beach and collides into his papa’s arms. 

His papa lets out a pained groan and Sokka quickly notices that the bandages on the left side of his chest and arm are wrapped around a series of burns seared into his father’s skin. 

Sokka swallows down this urge to throw up at the sight. 

“Sokka, Katara, You’ve grown so much.” His papa comments as he ignores the pain his wounds bring him and instead hugs Sokka and Katara tightly. When he pulls away, the older man rubs the tip of his nose against Katara’s, earning a delighted giggle from her before she nose-kisses him back. Then, Papa turns to Sokka and smiles at him before he does the same with him. 

Papa always does give the best kisses, Sokka remembers with an equally delighted grin. 

Aang awkwardly makes himself known, and he bows to the older man before finally introducing himself. 

“Aang is my soulmate,” Katara says excitedly as she grabs Aang’s hang and pulls him to her side.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Papa says as he returns the bow, “I was worried my daughter might never meet her soulmate, I didn’t know there were any airbenders still alive…”

“I’m the last one,” Aang says quietly. 

And Papa frowns sadly and decides then to pull Aang in for a hug. Aang is hesitant for a moment but melts in the hug nonetheless and Sokka smiles, happy to know that Katara’s soulmate is so easily and so happily accepted by their father. 

Sokka can’t wait until he meets Suki. 

But there’s still someone else missing from the family reunion. 

“Where’s dad?” Sokka asks, terrified for the worst, but he can’t see his papa’s soulmark in the dark, if it’s grey, then it means dad is dead and he and Katara lost two of their parents in the war. 

“Is he here too?” Katara asks but the real question “is he alive” goes unspoken. 

“No, he and the other warriors should be in the Eastern Earth Kingdom by now.” 

Sokka relaxes, relieved, but still disappointed that he can’t see his dad again. But the news is still good, great even since he doesn’t have to bury another parent because of the Fire Nation. 

Sokka, Aang, and Katara are then ushered out of the open and into an abbey, where Papa explains how he was wounded in the last battle and Dad had to carry him someplace safe so he could rest and heal from his wounds. Thankfully, it seems that the burns aren’t deep, they’re only surface-level at most, but they will still leave behind a scar once healed. 

Sokka hates the Fire Nation all over again for hurting his father and wishes there was something he could have done but knows he can't let himself linger on things that happened in the past. There was no possible way for his Papa to avoid getting hurt, with or without Sokka there to help. So he lets it go for now. At least for now while he sits in his father's makeshift hut in the abbey that reminds Sokka so much of home that it's a little disconcerting. But he's homesick and rightfully so and so the visit and the faux-igloo is too good to be true. 

The whole visit with his father seems like a dream.

One Sokka doesn't want to wake up from.

Sokka and Katara have their father tell them stories of his youth, stories of him and their dad causing mischief in the tribe, making Gran-Gran worry, and making their mother proclaim she was going to have her soulmarks removed if the two of them remained immature and stupid for the rest of their lives. Though she always said that while stifling laughter after their most recent prank or practical joke.

Sokka’s dream just keeps getting better when Papa decides they should go ice dodging (rock dodging in actuality) since Sokka had been too young to do the coming of age ceremony in their tribe before all the men left. Sokka's father also decides they should do it in the morning while they wait for the message from Dad telling them where Papa needs to go to meet up with him and the rest of the warriors in the Earth Kingdom. 

Ice—rock—dodging goes as expected when Sokka is given the trust to sail them all to safety. He’s now the one calling the shots, giving the orders to his crew on where to turn, when to turn, how much air should flow through the sails at any given time, and what to do when under the extreme pressures of being a leader. 

When he passes, there’s a weight that’s lifted off his shoulders that he didn’t even know he was carrying. 

But Sokka finally gets his rite of passage, though altered, he’s done it and he can tell by the light in his father's eyes that he’s proud of him.

He just wishes that his dad was also here to witness it. 

“The spirits of water bear witness to these marks,” Sokka's Papa calls loud and proud for all the spirits to hear. “For Sokka, the Mark of the Wise.” The older man’s thumb creates an arc on Sokka’s forehead, dotting it below with the dark grey paint he made the night before. 

Sokka beams at his father and watches as he goes down the line to give Katara and Aang their marks. But then Aang declines and reveals that he’s not as trustworthy as they all thought because Aang reveals that he's been keeping their father’s letter from them. 

Rage feeds Sokka’s next words, next decisions, and next actions. And the same is said for Katata. But her anger doesn’t last as long.

When Sokka, his papa, and Katara are in the woods, hiking along the soft dirt trail to follow the map that leads to their dad, a lone wolf howls in pain far off in the distance, bringing Sokka to his senses. 

Stopping in his tracks, Sokka sighs, “we need to go back,” and this gains his father’s and his sister’s attention, but despite Katara’s betrayal, she seems happy with Sokka’s words. “I wanna see Dad, but, helping Aang is where we're needed the most.” He finally decides, hoping his papa won’t be too bummed out by the revelation. 

“You’re right,” Katara smiles but then she too looks to their father in hopes he understands. 

“I understand,” Papa says with a smile. “And your Dad will understand too.” He adds as he bends to embrace both teens. “We’re both so proud of you,” He says before giving Sokka and then Katara a nose-kiss each. 

“Give Dad our love,” Katara says when they eventually pull away from each other. Sokka can see the tears forming in her eyes because even though they're needed someplace else, they still want to see their dad again. 

“I will and I’ll find a way to get a message to you once I’m there.” 

“Bye Papa.” Sokka and Katara chorus as they watch their father walk away.

The moment of calm doesn’t last long, because when Sokka and Katara get back to the abbey they find that it is being attacked by Fire Nation and the Fire Prince is trying to capture Aang...again. 

Seriously the guy doesn’t know when to give up and Sokka wonders if everyone from the Fire Nation is as persistent and as annoying as Zuko.

The trio doesn’t have much time to talk as they fight but once the threat is gone (at least it is for now) Sokka and Katara explain to Aang that they need to be with him on his journey to the North Pole to work his way to mastering the rest of the elements so he can defeat the Fire Lord and stop the Fire Nation’s tyranny on the world. 

Aang admits he was jealous and admits he was wrong to do what he did and promises them that he will uphold his mark of trustworthiness gifted to him by his soulmate's tribe and Katara kisses his cheek, causing the young Airbender to blush. And it seems the tension from before is gone, Sokka is no longer mad at Aang and neither is Katara. But Sokka wishes he had more time. He wishes he had the time to tell his papa about Suki, to see dad, and tell them both how wonderful, beautiful, and strong his soulmate is. 

But he'll just have to tell them about her later. 

**~*~*~**

When they arrive at the North Pole, they’re attacked, because of course they'd get attacked by a bunch of water benders since they are strangers trespassing in their waters. But it’s temporary until things are explained and then they receive the royal treatment when the Chief Arnook gives them a place to stay and has Aang train under a Master Pakku.

Then Sokka meets Princess Yue and he falls in love at first sight. 

But she’s not his and Suki’s third because his and Suki’s third is Fire Nation and Yue is Water Tribe. Things would be so much simpler if Yue were his soulmate. The hole in his heart would be mended, the third piece of his soul would have been found, and he wouldn’t be plagued with the anger and betrayal he feels whenever he remembers his second soulmate is Fire Nation. 

But Yue isn’t anyone else’s soulmate either. 

Yue is soulmate-less which is a bunch of donkey-bull shit because Yue is beautiful, kind-hearted, graceful, and just overall amazing. 

Sokka wishes that Yue is his and Suki’s soulmate, he wishes that the scar on his wrist showing where he carved out his soulmark belonged to Yue instead, possibly depicting a beautiful white full moon with a blue ribbon wrapped around it.

But there isn't a mark for her on him. And she doesn't have a mark either. Instead, Yue has to go through an arranged marriage because she and some other guy in the tribe are the only ones of similar age and status without a soulmate. 

After only a couple of days into their visit at the North Pole, the Fire Nation shows up and ruins everything like usual, and Sokka has yet another reason why he’ll never accept his other soulmate.

But then it gets worse. Because things always somehow find a way of getting worse. 

Aang is kidnapped, and so they all have to go find and save him along with the Fire Prince who kidnapped him in the first place. Because Aang says they can’t leave him to die by freezing to death in the snow but Sokka wants to leave him, it would give them one less thing to worry about on their journey if they let the guy die. 

But Aang is against it and so they save the prince’s life.

(Which of course would come back to bite them in the ass later).

When they return to the Spirit Oasis, Admiral Zhao kills the Moon Spirit and the once ivory moon turns a dark shade of red in the sky.

As Aang fuses with the grieving Ocean Spirit, Yue decides to give up her life for the moon spirit. She tells Sokka, Katara, and the Fire Prince's uncle, because he's here for some reason, that the Moon Spirit healed her as a baby and it granted her a long and happy life, so she should be the one to give her life to save it. 

Because she’s the only one able to save it. 

Yue kisses him goodbye and ascends into the cold night sky with a smile and her sacrifice finally stops the Ocean Spirit and Aang from their rampage against the Fire Navy fleet, of course not after they destroyed every last ship in their wake.

Sokka spends the next couple week’s worths of nights laying in the crisp grass at the Spirit Oasis garden with his knees pulled against his chest and tears falling from his eyes. 

He cries the first night without Yue and he feels a little silly that he’s crying over the loss of someone who wasn’t even his soulmate. 

But she should have been his soulmate. 

It isn't fair that she, a good and caring girl had to die because of the Fire Nation. The injustice reminds Sokka of his mother's death and he cries even more. 

But after a while, Sokka doesn't have any more tears left to cry, so for the rest of the nights he spends at the Spirit Oasis after Yue's death, Sokka just talks to the moon—to Yue—like he’d been doing with her before she died. And his heart hurts the entire time like someone is stabbing him in the chest with a dagger.

Sokka hates the Fire Nation even more now if that can even be possible but most of all he hates how useless he'd been. He couldn't protect Yue, he couldn't do anything to save her and he failed her and he hates that he can't seem to do the one thing he's supposed to do right. 

Sokka leaves the North Pole almost reluctantly but vowing he won't ever let anyone he loves get hurt again. 

**~*~*~**

A lot happens after they leave the North Pole but now they finally have an earth bending teacher for Aang to learn from and a strategy to follow as well as a plan of attack against the Fire Nation to bring to the Earth King so they can ready their army and take down the Fire Lord once and for all. 

They just have to get into Ba Sing Se first.

But without Appa, they don’t have many options for getting there. Plus, everyone's been tenser than usual, because Aang misses Appa and is pissed about losing him, rightfully so, but is still aiming the blame at Toph for choosing to save them from a crumbling library over Appa. And even though Katara is trying to do the right thing and keep them moving forward, she only has so much patience for her soulmate's anger and Toph's outbursts. 

Sokka, on the other hand, realizes that hasn't been much of a help for his sister since he does spend their entire trip through the desert either high off of cactus juice or sick from sand hornet goop. But he's trying now which is what should matter. He keeps the jokes flowing, and the atmosphere around the gang light and happy. It's what he's good at, being the meat and sarcasm guy with jokes up his sleeves for days. 

And so far it seems to be working, if at least a little bit, at keeping everyone's spirits up. 

Sokka is also the plan guy and the map guy and though he's got the invasion plan handy, he needs to get them away into Ba Sing Se as soon as possible. He sees the quickest route is through the Serpent's Pass, but his idea is shot down when a couple of strangers, a man and his pregnant soulmate and the soulmate's sister, tell them that the Serpent's Pass is deadly and they'd have better luck taking the ferry. 

They decide a nice boat ride is better than a deadly pass and best of all the ferry is completely hidden from the Fire Nation. But there is still an issue. None of them have the documentation needed to get them tickets onto the ferry. 

Luckily for them, though, their semi-new edition, Toph has rich girl privileges that allow them to get tickets to a ferry going into the city.

Sokka grins when Toph returns with the tickets and now they can get into Ba Sing Se worry-free!

“All right, we scammed that lady good!” Sokka exclaims as he walks behind his friends, but suddenly he feels someone behind him and he’s forcefully grabbed by some girl, a security guard, he realizes and he wishes he kept his mouth shut. 

“Tickets and passports please.” The girl says. 

“Is there a problem?” Sokka asks, trying to play it cool. If he can manage to keep somewhat a level head around the world’s most annoying traveling band whilst stuck in a cave, he can manage to get the slip on a security guard. 

“Yeah, I got a problem with you!” The girl tells him, pointing an accusatory finger at him. “I've seen your type before. Probably sarcastic, think you're hilarious, and let me guess, you're traveling with the Avatar.” She finishes with a scowl and Sokka wants to groan outwardly in frustration but actively tries not to. 

Who is this girl berating him? She doesn't look familiar and yet she knows a little too much about him for comfort. 

“Do I know you?” Sokka finally asks her, maybe they met in one of the towns or villages they visited and he just doesn’t recognize her when his life isn’t in some sort of peril. 

“You mean you don't remember? Maybe you'll remember this!” Then the girl roughly pulls Sokka by his shirt and kisses him on his cheek. 

And then it all clicks together. 

“Suki!” Sokka exclaims and embraces her, feeling a sensation of warmth and home wash over him as he hugs her. And Suki returns the hug, smiling brightly and telling him that she’s happy to see him as well. 

Later, Sokka finds out that Suki decided to join in the war effort and help people in whatever way she could after the gang left Kyoshi Island and so now she and the other Kyoshi Warriors are all security guards at Full Moon Bay. 

Sokka almost can’t stop smiling the entire time he's with her. He’s been reunited with Suki, his soulmate, and he somehow feels more whole than he had been this morning. He feels a weight off his shoulders that had been dragging him down, his heart also feels lighter, his body warmer, and he feels rejuvenated in a sense. Like he was a quail-swan that was covered in dirt and oil and was now clean and able to fly again without all the mud wearing him down. 

And Suki, well she looks amazing. She looks different without makeup, it’s not a bad different nor a good different. Just different. He can see how her dark blue eyes compliment her russet brown hair and how her nose is small in the center of her face, and her eyebrows twitch when she talks about things she’s passionate about. She looks happy and hopeful. She’s thriving being away from home and helping people and Sokka can’t help but feel a slight pang of envy because of it. Not that he doesn't want Suki to not be happy, but because ever since Yue died he’s felt more lost than he’s ever felt before. 

But he can’t let himself get too lost in his head, he needs to stay strong, keep his tough-guy composure and help his friends get into Ba Sing Se so they can get the invasion plans to the Earth King. 

Sokka decides to crack a few jokes and keep up the conversation with Suki. He figures catching up with her and listening to her travels will keep him out of his head long enough so that he can’t get stuck in the silence and end up spiraling down the mental staircase of anxiety and self-doubt. And it helps and he realizes that having Suki just being around him also helps more than he thought it would.

It's in the moment when he's listening to Suki talk about her boat trip into the Earth Kingdom with her mothers that Sokka realizes that there’s a reason soulmate-less people end up being the crabbiest people in the world. Because soulmates make people feel safer, they make the world look brighter, and they make life that much better for each other. 

But their reunion is short-lived because Suki has a job to do and Sokka has an Earth King to meet with. 

As it turns out, other opposing forces allow Sokka another distraction from the plagues of his deepest and darkest thoughts, but this time he’d rather it be something else because now they’re literally abandoning all hope and taking the Serpent’s Pass to escort a family of four into Ba Sing Se after all their important documents and personal belongings get stolen. 

And, okay, Sokka complaining about taking the Serpent’s Pass isn’t just because he’s tired of walking everywhere since he’s gotten dangerously used to riding on Appa everywhere, but because the pass is dangerous and he’d rather have a nice ferry boat ride than travel on a deadly path any day. 

Traveling on a dangerous path with a couple of strangers, one heavily pregnant lady, and three powerful benders doesn’t seem like it can be all doom and gloom, that is until Suki runs after them, insisting she joins them on their journey. Immediately Sokka is worried, terrified even, because Suki could get hurt or die on this journey and like hell, he’s going to just let that happen to someone he loves... again. 

The Serpent’s Pass ends up being thousands of times worse than Sokka envisioned. Between uneven rocky terrains, fear-inducing heights, rapid dark waves crashing against the jagged sides of the cliffs, and Fire Nation ships, Sokka wonders if today the spirits decided it was ‘let’s mess with and try to kill Team Avatar day’ today. 

Because that’s exactly what it feels like. 

Despite nearly getting killed from all angles, Sokka manages to keep an eye on Suki so he can keep her safe, which is all he can do in this situation when he feels utterly useless otherwise. And though, logically, Sokka knows Suki is perfectly capable of taking care of herself, he can’t keep his mind from wandering into dark and depressing territory where he watches as Suki lays down her life in the war and she dies in his arms.

Sokka feels the same way towards all his loved ones. His sister, especially, given he was tasked to protect her by their fathers. And though she is younger she is strong and would probably kick his ass if he ever became overly protective of her, especially now that she’s a master waterbender. But Sokka still feels worried for her every time she goes into a fight and almost gets hurt. Though he'll admit, lately, he's let up on his mission of protecting Katara so he can focus more on helping her and Aang save the world. But this is only because Katara's bending has gotten better than he ever imagined it to get. She's truly a really good waterbender now and her title as a master does not lie. 

But Sokka also feels that same worry for Toph when she fights too. And Although he knows very well that the tiny, fragile, and helpless girl her parents thought she was had only been a ruse, he can't help but feel like a protective big brother towards her too. He's going to ask his fathers to officially adopt her into the family anyway, so it's not like his behavior is that unwarranted. But Toph is probably the strongest and the best Earthbender of the century if not in the entire history of the world and if she finds out Sokka wants to protect her like she's his little sister, he'd probably get a face-full of an oncoming boulder or a rock-kick to the dick. 

Hell, Sokka even feels the same level of protectiveness towards Aang and he’s the fucking Avatar! But he’s still just a kid in Sokka’s eyes, no matter how much responsibility and power he has. He's his little brother too and he’s his sister’s soulmate so he can’t help but feel worried about him when it comes to his health and safety, even if the guy can bend four times as many elements as Sokka and can call upon his past lives to angrily beat the shit out of people. 

This was a terrifying scene to witness after they found the guys who stole Appa and also why Sokka wants to keep up the good vibes in the group for Aang's sake. He misses the kid's smile the most of all since they lost Appa. 

But, despite knowing his friends and his soulmate are strong, he just can't let anything else happen to his loved ones.

First his mother and then Yue?

Just the idea of losing Suki so soon after he lost Yue makes him want to cry and tear down everything in his path, thus that fear of losing her too has made Sokka's protective nature bubble up to the surface, boiling hotter than it has ever been before. So now, he can only keep a one-track mind as he travels through the Serpent’s Pass with Suki because he can’t bear to lose her next. 

At sunset, halfway through the pass, they all set up camp and get ready for bed so that they can get up early in the morning to travel. 

Tired, and not necessarily thinking straight, Sokka goes over towards Suki and sees that her sleeping bag is far too close to the ledge than he’d like. 

“Suki, you shouldn't sleep there. Who knows how stable this ledge is, it could give away at any moment!” He shouts and then decides to move Suki’s sleeping bag to a safer location. 

“Sokka, I'm fine, stop worrying!” Suki tells him and he can hear the frustration in her tone but she doesn’t understand that he needs to do this for his sake as much as hers. 

Instead, Sokka sighs and says “you're right, you're right, you're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself,” suddenly he sees something out of the corner of his eye and yells, “Wait!” He quickly realizes that it's nothing. “Oh, never mind, I thought I saw a spider, but, you're fine.” 

Sokka leaves Suki alone after that since she seems annoyed with his protectiveness and because he needs time to breathe, collect himself, and try to brush away the feeling of dread weighing heavily on his mind. 

Sokka finds himself where he ends up most nights since they left the North Pole. He’s standing and staring at the moon. Tonight, like all nights, she’s stunning, her ethereal ivory glow shining bright against the dark indigo night sky. She shines down beams of light onto the world as guidance, security, and even hope to everyone standing underneath her rays and the sight almost makes Sokka weep. 

“It’s a beautiful moon,” Suki says as she approaches Sokka from behind.

“Yeah, it really is.” Sokka sighs. 

“Look, I know you're just trying to help, but I can take care of myself,” Suki tells him. 

Sokka sighs, the facts in his brain finally coming to defeat the emotions in his heart, “I know you can.” 

“Then why are you acting so overprotective?” Suki asks. 

“It's so hard to lose someone you care about…” Sokka tells her. “Something happened at the North Pole and I couldn't protect someone, she wasn’t our third but I wished she was...and I don't want anything like that to ever happen again…” 

Suki looks at him with sad sapphire-colored eyes but nods in understanding.

“I lost someone I care about too,” She tells him. “He didn't die, he just went away. I only had a few days to get to know him, but he was smart and brave and funny…” 

A sudden surge of jealousy moves through Sokka’s body. 

“Who is this guy? Is he our third? Is he taller than me?” 

“No, he’s not our third and he’s about your height.” Says in a teasing tone. 

“Is he better-looking?” 

“It _is_ you, stupid.” 

“Oh.” Sokka breathes a bit in relief and feels Suki move closer. She intertwines their hands together, her right in his left, the same side their marks are on and she leans her head against his shoulder. 

There is a silence between them that lasts a few moments and it's nice, peaceful even, and as the night continues, they continue talking and catching up before they decide to head to bed so they’re not bone-tired in the morning. 

Sokka falls asleep that night with his arms wrapped around Suki’s waist and he sleeps better than he has for the first time in a long time. 

In the morning, traveling along the Serpent's Pass gets progressively worse when they have to submerge themselves underwater to cross a part of the path that’s flooded. But the whole thing does give Sokka an idea for an invention. 

But the bad shit just keeps coming when they finally learn why the Serpent’s Pass is called the Serpent's Pass. 

Sokka offers Momo as a sacrifice to the giant sea snake and Katara yells at him but it seems the serpent isn't up for negotiating anyway. 

The scrambling to get to the other side is stressful and Toph gets left behind. She can't swim, she can't see, in that instant, she is actually as helpless as others perceive her to be. Sokka needs to go in the water to get her but before he can Suki decides to jump into the ocean to swim out and save Toph from being a mid-morning sea snake snack. 

Thankfully, Aang and Katara manage to defeat the serpent with their bending and the group manages to make it out of the Serpent’s Pass alive. 

But there can never be a permanent moment of peace with them, because, how boring would that be? So just as they make it out of the deadly path alive, the pregnant woman they're traveling with, Ying, announces that she’s in labor and even more chaos ensues. 

Thankfully Katara takes the reins on this one and within a few hours, the baby is born a healthy and beautiful little girl. She is also so squishy that Sokka wants to pinch her cheeks and coo at her like a crazed person. And though he declines to hold the baby when given the opportunity, he does allow himself a moment for his mind to wander off into the future and he envisions himself and Suki with a baby girl of their own. 

He wonders what she'll look like. Blue eyes like Suki's and dark brown hair like Sokka maybe. She'll be beautiful, likely a non-bender but there's a possibility she could be a waterbender. His hypothetical daughter gives Sokka hope and it seems that the same goes for the new parents in the rock tent cooing at their own daughter because they end up naming her Hope.

After a while, once the excitement from the birth has ceased, Aang decides to go off on his own into the city in search of Appa while the rest of them decide to catch up with him later. 

As Sokka watches Aang fly away and as Katara and Toph go off to coo at the baby some more, Sokka stays out front, keeping watch with Suki. They stay in each other's company in silence for a bit before Suki speaks up, 

“Sokka, it's been really great to see you again,” She says and Sokka already doesn’t like where he knows this is going. 

“Whoa, hold on. Why does it sound like you're saying goodbye?” He asks. 

“I came along because I wanted to make sure you got through the Serpent's Pass safely…” Suki looks down as she speaks like she’s embarrassed, “but now I need to get back to the other Kyoshi Warriors.” She explains with determination in her eyes. 

But Sokka grins trying to hide his smugness in his voice when he says, “so you only came along to protect me?” 

And Suki startles at that, and bites her lip, looking away from him in embarrassment. Underneath her makeup, Sokka knows she’s blushing. 

“I—I’m starting to realize how hypocritical that is now,” she says quietly, “but it’s because you're my soulmate...and I—I get it, why you were so...we’re going to be protective of each other that's a given...I mean, why wouldn't we be...I’m sorry I got so on your case about it earlier…” 

Sokka’s smile grows, despite knowing that Suki will be leaving, and he decides to make the most of their time now, so he takes Suki’s hand before pulling her in for a kiss. Her lips are sweet, the red paint on them makes them taste like berries and though he’s not too accustomed to the taste of fresh fruit since he’s from the South Pole, it’s nice, Suki’s nice and she’s his soulmate, and he loves her. 

“You talk too much,” Sokka tells her when they pull away and Suki smiles before pulling him in for another kiss. 

**~*~*~**

Ba Sing Se fucking sucks. 

The Earth King is just a puppet king. 

The Dai Li play judge, jury, and executioner. 

But instead of killing people, they’re brainwashing them. 

Long Feng is a fucking psychopath. 

Jet is back momentarily and then he dies. 

And just when things start to look up again—after they get King Kuei to see that there is a war, get Long Feng out of power, and then get rid of the Dai Li—it all comes crumbling down again. 

Because now, Sokka is frantically getting onto Appa with Aang who tells him and his fathers that they have to go back to Ba Sing Se because Katara is in trouble. Also, Toph gets kidnapped and invents metal bending but she gets away no problem, which sounds a lot like her. 

But the worst part is that the Fire Nation has finally infiltrated the city. 

And things just keep getting better— ~~worse~~ —when the Fire Princess shoots Aang full of lightning and manages to kill him.

Sokka knows that Aang died because Katara is sobbing as she carries her soulmate in her arms when they come up on Appa to get away from the city.

(Finding Appa had really been the only good thing to come out of their visit to Ba Sing Se).

Sokka knows that Aang is dead because Katara is holding onto him and trying her damnedest to heal him despite the pain she's feeling. Because Sokka notices while they're all there, surrounding her and Aang helpless to only watch, that Katara’s soulmark has turned grey. But she's not giving up on Aang, and Sokka should know better by now than to doubt his stubborn sister who's so full of love and hope it makes him nauseous.

Katara eases up on the healing with normal water and decides to use the Spirit Oasis water from the North Pole to heal Aang's injury. The moment the magical water touches him, Aang inhales a sharp breath and Katara's cries of grief become cries of relief. It's a miracle that he survives. Sokka notices after Aang is revived that Katara’s soulmark turns back into its vibrant hues of yellow, orange, and beige, the tattoo depicting Aang's glider staff coming back to life the same moment that Aang does. 

But Aang passes out immediately after, his breathing ragged but his heartbeat stable according to Toph. 

It's a miracle, it's unbelievable, and it's fucking tragic all at once. Because they lost and Aang is injured and the Earth Kingdom has fallen. 

Katara sits with Aang in her lap, gently sending healing water over the kid's aching body to alleviate whatever pain he's in. She's even singing a soft lullaby to him, the one their mom used to sing to them. Sokka turns away from them and decides to not pay much attention to the two after that. He figures that they need their moment to themself and he shouldn't be prying.

Plus, Sokka's got a job to do now since he's the only one able to steer Appa in the direction they need to go in. Because there's only one place they can go right now to evade the Fire Nation. They need to get to Chameleon Bay where their fathers are to lay low for while Aang heals and they recuperate from such a hard-hitting loss. 

Three weeks later, they're traveling on a Fire Nation ship to avoid getting attacked and it seems to be working. While Sokka makes plans with his fathers, Katara is at Aang's side morning, noon and night. Toph is practicing her metal bending on the ship when she's not entertaining the Duke and Pipsqueak whom they ran into before they left Chameleon Bay. 

But when Sokka isn't planning the invasion or inventing new machines to be made to help them in the invasion, he's wandering the echoing halls of the ship. Today, he finds himself in a room with Fire Nation flags hanging from every wall and Sokka scoffs in disgust. The level of imperceptive nationalism in the Fire Nation is astonishing. It's terrifying too and Sokka wonders if there is anyone in the Fire Nation that doesn't want to be stuck in war nor believe in the oppression of the Fire Lord. 

Sokka allows himself to rub the silky material of the white bandages on his arm where his soulmark was. He doesn't like thinking about it often, but being here on this Fire Nation ship he can't help but think about his and Suki's other soulmate. They're from the Fire Nation, they might even be a firebender and after all the bad and awful things that happened to Sokka and his friends and his family, he doesn't know if he'll ever be accepting of his soulmate.

And yet he still wonders, as he lies awake at night in a cold sweat as he stares up at the ceiling or star above him, what if his soulmate is someone who doesn't believe in the war? What if they're actively trying to help or put an end to the Fire Lord's authoritarianism? Then he wonders, if such a person exists, how many more of them are there in the Fire Nation and the Fire Nation colonies? 

But Sokka never dwells on those thoughts long enough for him to feel any sort of remorse or guilt for rejecting his soulmate. 

Sokka is taken out of his head when he hears shouting coming from down the hall. It's the Duke and Pipsqueak who'd been on Aang guarding duty while Katara was forced to eat something and sleep. 

Sokka quickly leaves the room he's in to go see what is going on and he sees Aang staggering, running, away from the Duke and Pipsqueak. It occurs to Sokka at that moment, as he runs past the former Freedom Fighters wearing full Fire Nation naval armor, that Aang is running because he thinks he's been captured by the Fire Nation. Quickly, Sokka goes to get Katara, even though he still wants her to rest, he also doesn't want her to yell at him later when he tells her Aang woke up without her there. 

Katara is awake almost instantly like she wasn't even asleep, to begin with when Sokka goes to get her, and he wonders if she's suffering from the broken heart syndrome Gran-Gran says affects people when they lose their soulmate. 

But Aang is alive and Katara's soulmark isn't grey anymore. So he wonders if the effect is still the same because she was there when he did die, even if it was momentarily. Sokka reminds himself as he and Katara make it to the deck that he'll have his dad assess Katara for any signs of broken heart syndrome. 

Aang nearly passes out again, but Katara quickly has him leaning against her and she smiles, and Sokka thinks he'll never get tired of the two being lovey with each other and giving him the oogies. 

Then Aang begins acting weird and runs away, and now they have to go after him and because they're in Fire Nation waters, they find themselves on some dormant volcano, hugging Aang and telling him he doesn't need to defeat the Fire Lord yet, they still have time. But Sokka understands Aang's struggle, he thinks he's let everyone down again by allowing the world to think he's dead. He just hopes that his invasion plan allows them to achieve the victory they so desperately need.

But for now, they're playing the part of a couple of colonials who have just moved to the Fire Nation from the colonies. They even look the part, they're all dressed as Fire Nation citizens and walking around town like they’re not planning to try to dismantle the imperialist regime from within. 

And Sokka has to admit, he looks really good in red and brown tones, they work well for his complexion and the darker hues of the clothes makes the blue in his eyes stand out. 

Aang goes missing again and comes back saying how he was caught playing hooky in his school uniform and was taken back to school by one of the headmasters. Aang wants to go back but Sokka knows nothing good can come out of anyone going to school in the Fire Nation and getting taught fake history that favors them and not the other nations. There's probably a text out there that says the first Avatar ever was Fire Nation and every Avatar not born in the Fire Nation after them is just a fake. Which is stupid and why Sokka doesn't want Aang to go back. But then Aang says that going back to school, he'll learn some secrets of the Fire Nation and the Fire Lord so Sokka lets up and figures a couple of more days at school won't kill Aang.

He's dead wrong and he and Katara have to pretend to be Aang's parents after he gets into a fight in school. Then Aang does something worse than just getting in trouble at school, he decides to host a party for his classmates, so now they've got dozens of Fire Nation kids coming to their cave so Aang can teach them that dancing is fun. 

And okay, it is a bit fun until the school officials show up and they have to leave before they get caught. 

"Those kids were being taught so many wrong things...it's no wonder that ordinary Fire Nation citizens are fearfully just following the orders of the Fire Lord..." Aang mutters sadly as they move onto the next town. 

"That's how propaganda works, I think my dad called it that...cause once when some Fire Nation kids came to our house with their parents for a business meeting at high noon the kids had to pledge their allegiance to the Fire Lord. Even if they were in the middle of doing something else, they had to stand and cross their hearts and pledge themselves to a homicidal maniac who likely doesn't give a wasp-rat's ass about them and their well-being." Toph responds. 

"I think...maybe...if those kids weren't so scared, maybe some of them might even be on our side," Katara says with a smile, hopeful as ever. 

"I think that some of them are too brainwashed to be saved," Sokka adds grimly.

And no one bothers to respond because they know he's right. But even though Sokka has secretly thought the same things Katara's thinking, he'll never admit that he too is hopeful some people from the Fire Nation are good. 

Their next big setback happens when Katara decides to play dress-up, impersonates a spirit, and destroys an entire factory in the process of trying to actively help a bunch of people from a polluted river village. 

Seeing all the sick and injured people isn't too strange for Sokka, but seeing the hungry kids with sticks for limbs and dirt on their faces as they fend for themselves because their parents aren't well enough to take care of them is heart-breaking. But seeing so many people, from the Fire Nation of all places, looking like they're starving and barely surviving—like they're from the hardest-hit Earth Kingdom villages—is eye-opening and a little overwhelming. Because it seems that the Fire Lord's own subjects are suffering from the war too. And Sokka feels sympathetic towards them, even if they're Fire Nation, and now understands why his empathetic little sister had to help them. 

After helping the village with the factory and helping them clean up the river they head out, because a waterbender in a Fire Nation village is still not safe, even if she did just help save their sorry asses. But they head off to somewhere else they can be safe and evade capture and it seems a little too strange how they've managed to stay relatively safe this entire time. 

They find themselves outside a village the next time, because if they're outside the village, maybe they'll have fewer distractions. So now they're chilling underneath the stars and watching a meteor shower. 

That is until a meter begins crashing down towards the earth. 

And Sokka is left behind, watching uselessly from the sidelines holding onto Momo, while Aang, Katara, and Toph bend the threat of the meteor’s impact away. 

The next day when they’re eating from a local vendor in the town they just saved, Toph complains about missing the praise they used to receive from their acts of heroism, but she knows they have to keep a low profile so they don’t get caught, but that doesn't stop her from wishing they could still get their hero worship. 

And Sokka rolls his eyes, because boo-hoo, they can't get praised for their bending. It's not like bending is all that anyway. The best people he knows are non-benders anyway. Bitterness and envy implode from within and Sokka almost can't take it. So he vocalizes his discontent.

But then he gets to the root of his insecurity and admits aloud that he can’t do anything to help people the way the others can. Because he can't bend and he can still barely fight. Sure it’s unlike him to wallow in his self-pity out in the open like this but he’s frustrated and rightfully so. He just wants to be able to help and he wishes that he could do something useful for once. 

Katara tries cheering him up by saying that no-one can read a map like him, Toph pipes up saying she can’t read at all, and then Aang comments on how he’s the one that keeps them laughing with his sarcasm and it’s true, Sokka is the sarcasm guy, but their words don’t make things different and don’t make him feel any better. 

Because who cares if he can read maps and be sarcastic, that won't help him when it comes to fighting in the invasion that's coming up in the next couple of weeks. 

“I'm sorry you're feeling so down but I hope you know, none of us see you that way,” Katara says as she takes a seat beside Sokka. She then puts her hand on his shoulder, comforting and gentle, and says, “I know something that's going to make you feel better.” 

“You do?” He asks her, hoping she's right, and she nods. 

They end up in a weapons store and Sokka smiles, his sister really does know him well, because shopping does help cheer him up. 

Sokka tries out a few of the weapons and doesn’t have much of a connection with them until he sees a sword in a display stand. The shopkeeper tells him it’s a Piandao original and once the guy leaves to help out other shoppers, beside him, Aang tells him that what Sokka is missing is a master to teach him a skill. Sokka figures that Aang is right but they don't have time to waste on him getting his hopes up on getting some Fire Nation guy to teach him sword fighting. 

And then it clicks as he walks out of the shop because he remembers the black-steel sword on Suki's soulmark. A sword he'd never seen before represents him on his soulmate's wrist and here he is now with the opportunity to learn sword fighting, and gain the sword that has been fated to be his since before he was even born. 

“Suki soulmark had my boomerang and a sword,” He tells the others as they leave the weapon store, “I think I am meant to train under this Master Piandao guy.” 

And the others light up and congratulate him on finding a path for himself. 

Master Piandao is super intimidating upon first glance, the Fat guy—and yes his name is Fat—tells him that Piandao turns down every student who shows up and Sokka can’t help but think, damn another stuck up Fire Nation guy who thinks he's better than everyone else. But Sokka buries that thought deep down inside himself because he needs this. He needs to train with Piandao because he needs to learn a fighting skill in time for the invasion. 

But also needs to learn this for himself, so he won’t ever feel useless for being a non-bender again. 

Sokka introduces himself to the Master okay, he uses his real name which is probably a mistake in hindsight but it's too late to go back now. 

Master Piandao gives him a side-glance as he writes on a piece of parchment and says “Let me guess. You've come hundreds of miles from your little village where you're the best swordsman in town. And you think you deserve to learn from the master.” 

“Well, actually, I've been all over the world…” Sokka tells him and the older man gives him a comment of discontent but Sokka isn’t done speaking yet, “And I know one thing for sure,” Sokka says as he gets on his knees and bows his head, “I have a lot to learn.” 

“You're not doing a very good job of selling yourself,” Piandao says, glancing at him, and Sokka wants to laugh and tell him that he’s right, but it’s also true, Sokka has a lot to learn. 

A few months ago he was just skilled in throwing a boomerang around and he thought he was the best, bravest, and strongest warrior in his tribe (minus his dads of course) but he knows better now. He’s been learning, first from Suki, then from Yue, and even from Katara, Aang and Toph. He’s been learning how to be braver, stronger, and how to become an actual warrior on his journeys that he wouldn’t have ever learned to be if he had stayed home. 

“I know…” Sokka responds. “Your butler told me that when I met you, I would have to prove my worth. But the truth is ... I don't know if I am worthy.” He admits. 

“Hm, I see.” Master Piandao says with his lips in a firm thin line. “Well then, let’s find out together how worthy you are.” 

Sokka looks up as Piandao’s shadow moves and then the man is standing before him. And Sokka swallows down a bout of nerves because he doesn’t know what’s going to happen next but he certainly isn’t expecting Piandao to accept him as his student. 

“I _will_ train you,” Piandao tells him and a huge smile spreads across Sokka’s face. 

Sokka first learns that his weapon, the sword, is an extension of himself, according to Master Piandao it’s an extra-long and really sharp arm, but it’s also a simple tool, a versatile weapon, and so the possibilities of its uses are limitless. 

Sokka then learns that a warrior must learn a variety of arts to keep their minds sharp and fluid. So Master Piandao hands Sokka a brush and a piece of parchment and tells him he’s learning calligraphy, and that he must write his name. 

But Sokka is skeptical so Master Piandao tells him, “When you write your name, you stamp the paper with your identity. You must learn to use your sword to stamp your identity on a battlefield.” 

So then Sokka dips the end of the brush into the ink and steadies himself to begin writing his name when Piandao adds, “Remember, you cannot take back a stroke of the brush or a stroke of the sword.” 

And Sokka pauses and takes in his Master’s words, wishing that more people in the Fire Nation thought the same thing. 

But this exercise is about putting his identity on the page so he does what he’d rather do than write his name, he draws a self-portrait of himself, and cheerfully shows it off. 

Sokka’s next lesson has him landscape-painting as it allows a warrior to hold the layout of the land in his mind. Piandao tells him that, in battle, he’ll only have an instant to take everything in. And he gives Sokka that instant before instructing him to paint what he just saw. 

Sokka decides to take some creative liberties with his painting and adds a rainbow in the background. 

His next lesson involves rock gardening as it teaches warriors to manipulate their surroundings and use them to their advantage. And that is exactly what Sokka does. He manipulates the rocks to his advantage, by creating a little resting place for him to take a breather on. He asks Fat for a cold drink and Piandao asks for one too but with a slice of lemon in his. 

“You’ve had a good first day of training.” Master Piandao tells him at the end of the day. 

“I have? But I thought I messed up every single thing we worked on!” Sokka exclaims, a little bit taken aback by his Master’s praise. 

“You messed things up in a very special way,” Piandao tells him and Sokka isn’t sure it’s 100% a compliment but takes it as one anyway. “You are ready for a real sword.” He finishes and Sokka’s eyes light up, he asks Piandao if he’s giving him one of his and the older man tells him no. “Your sword must be an extension of yourself.” Master Piandao reminds him. “So tomorrow, you will make your own sword.” 

Sokka’s mind wanders, Suki’s soulmark showed he was meant to have a sword made of some type of black metal. If he’s to make it himself, he doesn’t even know where he’ll get the material. Then it hits him.

The meteor sitting outside of the city is black. 

He’s meant to have a space sword. 

Sokka asks Master Piandao if he can come back with a certain material for his sword and he agrees, later, Sokka reunites with Katara, Aang, and Toph who all seem to have missed him, and he’d be touched if he didn’t have other more pressing matters to attend to right now. 

Moving the meteorite to Master Piandao’s house is a bit stressful, but an easy feat with Toph bending it, but they manage to do it without attracting too much attention to themselves and that night Sokka forges his own sword out of a rock that came from beyond the stars.

Forging the sword is hard-work, his arms hurt from beating against the hot metal with a hammer and his legs are sore from standing and shoveling coal. It's sweaty work too he realizes as his clothes stick to the wetness of his back, making him hyper-aware that he desperately needs to change his clothes and jump into the nearest river to wash up.

But the pain and sweat is worth it. Because he now has a sword of his own and it's beautiful. It's a straight-bladed sword, made of black meteoric iron. The sword's grip and the sheath are made of a dark brown leathery material. The rain-guard and the pommel are made of bronze and at the end of the pommel, etched in the bronze, is the image of a white lotus, a Piandao signature telling others just who trained Sokka in the ways of the sword. 

The next day, after making his sword, Sokka sits before Master Piandao, a changed man but he can’t tell if he should be proud of himself yet or not.

“Sokka, when you first arrived, you were so unsure. You even seemed down on yourself. But I saw something in you right away…” And Master Piandao goes on to list how bright, strong, creative, great, and worthy Sokka is, and though a couple of months ago Sokka would have to agree whole-heartedly with the praise, he can’t help but disagree and feel ashamed of himself. 

Because Master Piandao is wrong.

Because Sokka is still not worthy. 

“I'm sorry, Master. You're wrong.” Sokka says shamefully. “I am not worthy. I'm not who you think I am. I'm not from the Fire Nation. I'm from the Southern Water Tribe. I lied so that I could learn swordsmanship from you. I'm sorry.”

There’s a brief second of pause and then Master Piandao says he’s sorry too before he starts swinging his sword at Sokka. Toph, Aang, and Katara get up to help him, and though he almost forgot that they were there, Sokka declines their help and tells them that this is his battle to fight alone. 

As they fight, Piandao praises his strategy; using his superior agility against him, using the terrain to evade him, using his surroundings to hide long enough to catch his breath, and being resourceful overall in battle and it’s all a bit disorienting because the guy has just been told he was being lied to so that he would teach Sokka and yet he’s still teaching Sokka despite all that. 

Master Piandao stops fighting after a while and tells Sokka that he's done a good job and Sokka blinks, confused but intrigued, because why would this guy be so chill fighting him when Sokka’s Water Tribe and he’s supposed to be the enemy? 

Piandao explains at that moment that he’s known all along that Sokka is Water Tribe. He also admits that he knows that Aang is the Avatar, and explains he taught Sokka anyway because he believes the way sword doesn’t belong to just one nation. 

And Sokka gets it and feels a sense of relief now that he knows everything is out in the open and he's not going to die or get captured for it.

Sokka also finally feels like he is worthy and it's the best feeling in the world. 

“Sokka, you must continue your training on your own.” Master Piandao tells him. “If you stay on this path, I know that one day you will become an even greater master than I am.” And Sokka smiles at the older man's words. 

Finally, a long-awaited feeling of pride surges through him. He’s a sword fighter now, he’s mastering a skill, a fighting skill, and he’s ready to fight to save the world and protect it from the Fire Nation. He's no longer the full-of-himself kid who thought he was the best fighter when he wasn't. Because now he knows how to be a better warrior and he is a good fighter now and he isn't fooling himself anymore. 

Sokka also realizes that Master Piandao is a good guy, despite being Fire Nation, and he finds that there are a lot of people in the Fire Nation like him. They're good, kind, and normal people despite their nationality.

It also appears that Piandao isn't loyal to the Fire Lord, at least if not turning Aang into the guy is any evidence that he’s on their side. But Piandao is just a guy who is a master sword fighter. He’s a guy who lives happily with his soulmate in a nice house with a nice garden and who likes lemons in his drinks and writing calligraphy. He's just an ordinary guy beyond being a master, and he's just trying to live his life the best he can in the nation he had no choice being born into. 

Sokka's slowly coming to terms with the fact that the world isn't as black and white as he previously thought. 

Master Piandao also enjoys Pai Sho apparently if the White Lotus tile Fat gives them is any indication of that.

**~*~*~**

In the final weeks leading up to the invasion, the worst that happens to the gang happens when they meet an elderly Southern Water Tribe woman with a thirst for blood and vengeance. After that Katara is almost inconsolable, but Sokka tries his best to comfort her, assuring her that blood bending can't define her, that she is a waterbender, a healer, and a wonderful, kind, and gentle person. His words seem to work but the notion of his sister controlling anyone as Hama did terrifies him but he realizes that he wouldn't even hold it against Katara if she needed to use it for self-defense. 

Hell, he'd encourage her to use it if she needed to blood bend to protect herself. 

Another thing that occurs before the invasion is Aang's anxiety about the invasion leaving him restless. He's so sleep deprived that Sokka swears he sees the kid having a full-on conversation with Momo like he can actually understand the lemur. 

Oh and some crazy Combustion Man tries to kill them after Toph and Katara try to pull a scam but that threat seems to be neutralized for now. 

On the actual day of the invasion, everyone is tense and Sokka feels it deep within his bones. Everything is just so overwhelming, sounds, sights, smells, even touch. Sokka just wants to turn every one of his senses off for just a minute so he can focus, concentrate, and breathe. It's very distracting, to say the least.

But the sensory overload isn't the only thing that’s overwhelming him. Seeing so many of their allies in one place, strangers turned friends during their travels, makes Sokka a little teary-eyed in an incredibly grateful and hopeful way. And he feels ready to lead them all in the invasion, but also ignores the parasitic monster of self-doubt eating away at his insides. 

Unfortunately, ignoring it doesn't work, because he manages to fuck up his speech to all the people standing in front of him, awaiting his leadership, and now his dad has to take over for him like he’s a little kind only playing soldier. 

But that’s only the tip of the iceberg for today. 

Dad gets hurt and then Aang comes back earlier than expected and tells them that Ozai isn’t even in the palace and just when they think they’ve found a secret bunker to the Fire Lord’s hiding spot, they come to find the Fire Princess instead. 

But they don’t have time to wait for the princess to give up the location of her father. And they certainly don’t have the time to waste fighting her. The eclipse only lasts a few minutes and they need to go!

“Wait! Aang! Toph! Stop attacking! Don't you see what she's doing? She's just playing with us. She's not even trying to win this fight!” Sokka calls to his friends, who are in the midst of a fight with the princess. 

“Not true. I'm giving it my all.” Princess Azula says calmly. 

“You're trying to keep us here and waste all our time!” Toph states angrily. 

And Azula scoffs, “Um, right, I think your friend just said that, genius. And since you can't see, I should tell you I'm rolling my eyes.” She says rolling her eyes in disgust. 

“I'll roll your whole head!” Toph shouts, her anger only rising. 

“She’s just baiting you again,” Sokka says, trying to calm Toph down. 

They really don't have time for Azula to keep distracting them. 

“Okay, so what do we do, just ignore her?” Aang asks. 

“We don't have a choice. We just have to get out of here and find the Fire Lord on our own somehow.” Sokka tells them and the trio turns to leave but Azula says something about it being a trap and Aang and Toph stop walking and turn back towards her, hesitant to keep moving forward. Sokka turns back and insists that they ignore the princess but also severely underestimates her craftiness. 

“So, Sokka's your name, right?" Azula asks him."My favorite prisoner used to mention you all the time.” Sokka stops walking at this and turns to cast Azula a suspicious glance. “She was convinced you were going to come and rescue her since you are her soulmate after all. But of course, you never came, and she gave up on you.”

Sokka realizes that she's talking about Suki. 

Then he realizes that she's imprisoned Suki, that she's hurt, Suki. 

And Sokka let her down because he couldn't protect her. 

Blinded by his tears and his rage, Sokka charges at the princess and she smiles a wicked smile and tells him to bring it on. 

She’s concealing a weapon, a dagger, that Sokka doesn’t notice but Toph does and she quickly apprehends the princess by pinning her wrist to the tunnel wall with cuffs made of rock. Sokka doesn't care that Azula is a girl, he doesn't care if she's royalty, he doesn't care if she's younger than him. Because he needs to know where Suki is. So he forcefully grabs Azula by the shoulder and pushes her hard against the wall, coming dangerously close to her face. 

“Where. Is. Suki.” 

Azula doesn't answer but her twisted grin makes Sokka's stomach flip.

Sokka pushes down the urge to vomit and he asks her the question again but she refuses to give him an answer. Aang then grabs Sokka gently by his shoulder trying to get him to realize that Azula won’t tell him where Suki is. But Sokka can't give up on Suki and the guilt and the rage eat at his soul like a starving polar bear shark. 

“Where are you keeping her?” Sokka asks again but Azula only gives him a smug grin and keeps her lips sealed. 

He realizes then that he's been playing into her hand this whole time. 

Suddenly a loud crack, a sound eerily similar to lightning, echoes throughout the tunnels and signals that the eclipse is over and their time is up. 

Azula escapes and though Aang insists on going through with facing the Fire Lord, Sokka decides that they should return to the others first. 

They manage to get out of the tunnels, onto Appa, and back to the rest of the invasion troops to tell them the plan failed. 

But things only get worse when, instead of directly attacking them, the Fire Nation tanks go to destroy the submarines instead. 

“How are we all going to escape?” Sokka asks hopelessly. He could really use one of Katara’s empowering speeches right now, but he knows that she’s not in the mood for it either. 

Then his fathers come forward, Papa is helping Dad walk, and they both look exhausted.

Sokka realizes that he should have had them retreat the moment Aang came back to them that Ozai wasn't there. 

“We’re not,” Dad says grimly, teeth clenching through the pain, even though Katara healed most of his injury, it was still a broken limb. 

“Then our only choice is to stand and fight. We have the Avatar, we could still win.” Sokka says trying to keep a brave face. But his mind keeps playing on loop everything that's gone wrong and how he should have fixed it before it could get to this moment. 

“Yes, with the Avatar we could still win. On another day." Dad says, voice stern. "You kids have to leave. You have to escape on Appa together.” Dad tells them and Sokka can only stare at him in disbelief. 

“What?” Katara exclaims and then grabs onto their fathers. “We can't leave you behind!” She says with tears in her eyes and then looks at the rest of the invasion force. “We won't leave anyone behind!” 

“You're our only chance in the long run. You and Sokka have to go with Aang somewhere safe.” Dad instructs and Katara turns to look back at Sokka and Aang sorrowfully. 

Sokka can feel her pain, he hates the idea of leaving dad and papa behind, he hates the idea of leaving anyone behind, but he knows now that this is what needs to be done. 

“It's the only way to keep hope alive,” Dad adds quietly. 

“The youngest of our group should go with you. The adults will stay behind and surrender. We'll be prisoners, but we'll all survive this battle.” Papa tells them and Sokka can tell he’s trying to hide the worry and fear in his tone. Sokka wonders if the Fire Nation would even be merciful enough to keep them as prisoners. 

When the Fire Nation troops get to the beach they are equipped and ready to attack and although the swamp guys try to hold them off they’re quickly overrun and defeated as well. 

They have to go. 

_Now._

Quickly, the gang loads Teo, the Duke, and Haru onto Appa. Teo bids a heartfelt farewell to his dad, Haru embraces his own father as well, and the Duke snuggles into one last hug with Pipsqueak. 

Sokka and Katara are also sandwiched in a hug between their fathers and it is then that Sokka wishes that things could have ended differently for them all. 

He’d been so sure of the invasion plan. He thought that he had every angle thought out, every detail down, every possible outcome figured out, but he was wrong. He was so very wrong. 

And now he's let everyone down. He's a poor excuse for a leader and an even weaker fighter and warrior.

He's brought dishonor to his family and the Southern Water Tribe. 

“We lost today, but we've never been this close,” Papa says aloud with a small smile and taking Sokka out of his self-deprecating thoughts long enough to listen to the final speech from the real leaders of this invasion. 

“We tasted victory, and that counts for something,” Dad adds, with an equally tiny grin. 

Hope for the future is still alive and present within his fathers and the rest of the invasion forces. Which is more than Sokka can say for himself. 

Because now his fathers are going to be imprisoned. 

Just like Suki. 

And if he can’t even protect his own family, his own soulmate, how can he ever be fit enough to win the war, to be Chief, to be anything worthwhile?

Sokka and Katara bid a final farewell to their dads and then Aang makes a brief but powerful speech thanking everyone who came and fought and risked their lives and freedom for their cause. 

They leave before they can get captured and they're off to find a safe place for them to rest and find their footing again so they can come back and finally claim victory for themselves. But the entire trip Sokka is going over the invasion plans in his head; nitpicking everything he missed, everything that went wrong, and sobs quietly in the farthest corner of the saddle trying not to be seen or heard. 

But it seems he's not the only one crying right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is a triple whopper and large fries worth of story and I hope you've enjoyed it so far! 
> 
> The next chapter will happen...*insert date here*...yes that sounds right!
> 
> Also basically the first three chapters of this fics are, technically, the prologue, which sounds weird but it makes sense in my head lol. So look out for the next chapters in the future! But, first, I want to finish my Zukaang 5+1 before I update this one. 
> 
> (And I should probably update my resume too since I'll be getting my diploma in the mail any day now lol).


	2. Searching

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please! Read! The! Tags!
> 
> The self-harm tag is still very much in effect in this chapter. So please be cautious.
> 
> Also, the menstruation tag, the sexual assault tag, and the infanticide/child death/child murder tags aren't explicit just implied/mentioned. 
> 
> Otherwise, enjoy!

Suki’s home has always been on Kyoshi Island with her mothers. She doesn’t even remember ever living anywhere else but there. However, she wasn’t born on the island, instead; she had been born in some small Earth Kingdom village where her mother worked as a schoolteacher before she moved herself and Suki, while in the search of her soulmate.

Suki wasn’t born on Kyoshi Island, but she knows no other home. And she loves it there. She loves running around on the white sandy beaches; she loves hearing the crashing of the waves against the shoreline; she loves exploring in the forest full of tall bamboo trees and looking for the native panda monkeys that live in them, but she loves her friends and her family most of all.

But sometimes, Suki doesn’t think the village loves her the way she loves it. Sometimes she notices that a few kids her age are sometimes hesitant to talk to her, but they eventually warm up to her and they play in the school-yard together, as kids do. She also notices the way the parents of these kids in particular always give her side glances, watching her like she doesn’t belong in the village, seeing her as an outsider, as an "other" amongst them.

Sometimes she notices those same adults giving her mother suspicious looks too. Suki and her mother share the same hushed whispers of gossip and the same cold shoulder they sometimes receive from the people and Suki doesn't fully understand why. But Suki’s mama, the captain of the Kyoshi Warriors, is quick to shut them all down so that they never say or do anything terrible. 

(Once, when Suki was seven, she heard someone call her mother a slut and her mama punched that person in the face and told them to never do that again, and they didn't). 

Suki, at first, believes it’s because she and her mother are from someplace else that fuels the hearsay and the distrust from the people of Kyoshi Island, but Suki quickly comes to learn that her place of birth isn’t the reason behind the indifference she feels from her neighbors. 

That blame belongs to her soulmarks. 

(But it will take a while longer for Suki to figure out the blame belongs to one soulmark in particular). 

However, Suki still sometimes gets teased for her other soulmark, the one she hasn't been keeping covered since she was a toddler when she and her mother first arrived on the island in search of a better life and her mother's soulmate.

Living on Kyoshi Island, the gender roles and hetero-normative culture surrounding the rest of the Earth Kingdom is non-existent. Women are warriors, women provide for their families, women are skilled workers, women are leaders, women are more than just a pretty and delicate wife, mother, daughter, and sister, they’re a person and they have their own autonomy and lives to live beyond the home. 

And it’s this fact that at six-years-old on the school playground, Suki is told that her Water Tribe soulmate will try to oppress her and will think of her as less of a person because she’s a girl. 

Of course, Suki argues against the accusation by stating that, maybe, her soulmate is also a girl.

“Your mark has a picture of two weapons, weapons mean that your soulmate is a warrior and in the Water Tribe, warriors are exclusively male because the woman’s role is in the home.” Mei Ling, one of the older girls currently training to become a Kyoshi Warrior, tells her. 

So, Suki retorts, “maybe she’s the first female warrior in the Water Tribe.” 

However, Mei Ling and the other older girls teasing her don’t seem to believe that and continue to tell her that her Water Tribe soulmate will be a sexist pig-sheep. They also say that should Suki conform to his ways, she won't ever get the chance to become a warrior herself.

But Suki can’t just let it go, so she continues to argue against Mei Ling's accusation. Suki doesn’t understand why she would have a soulmate who would hurt her like that, her mother always tells her that soulmates are supposed to support, love, and empower each other. Her soulmate wouldn’t do what Mei Ling is insinuating, it wouldn’t be right, and they should know better than to think so lowly of women. 

Suki returns to class with a sour mood and spends the rest of the day staring at her soulmark, wondering what she could have possibly done to deserve someone who only wants to hurt her. 

That night at dinner, Suki manages to push away her bitterness long enough to help her mother set the table. They’re only expecting dinner to be between the two of them tonight, but when the pig-hen is done cooking, Suki’s mama comes home, surprising both her daughter and soulmate with her early return. 

Mama smiles and sets her fans and supply belt on the table by the door. “Seo-Yun took over the night watch for me.” Her mama says as she greets Mother with a kiss. 

And Suki smiles wide, watching them exchange the kiss, followed by an embrace, and has suddenly forgotten her earlier tribulations and is now excited to one day be able to find her own soulmate who will love her like that. But she knows finding her soulmate won’t be easy, she’ll have to leave home and search for them in both the Northern and Southern Water Tribes to find them. 

Suki’s other soulmark, somehow tingles underneath the brown scarf she keeps over it as if it's telling her to pay attention to them as well. She doesn’t understand completely why she has to cover her second mark, her mothers always just tell her to and she never once tries to question it. But she hopes one day she won't have to keep it covered. She wants to wear both of her marks proudly and without fear of ridicule. She wants to wear them with both her soulmates' hands tightly intertwined with hers as they walk down the beach happily together.

When her parents break apart from their embrace, Suki’s mama smiles widely and extends her arms towards Suki. Suki then runs into her mama’s muscular arms and she hugs her tight as she picks Suki up and spins her around. Suki giggles as her mama then smacks a giant kiss to her right cheek, leaving behind a bright red lipstick mark on Suki’s fair skin. 

“How was your day my little swan-dove?” Mama asks her. 

Suki’s smile falters a bit, she doesn’t want to tell her moms about her issues with the other girls teasing her, especially because Mei Ling is training under her mother to become a Kyoshi Warrior, and she feels that tattling would just make things worse. Plus, she also knows that the teasing isn’t malicious, she knows that things will work themselves out because they always do. One day her peers will tease Suki for something or another and the next day they will ask her to play kickball as if nothing had ever happened. 

She’s used to the cycle at this point. Especially when it’s with the older girls. The kids her age and younger are nicer and don’t tease her as often. 

“Suki?” Her mother asks, her hazel eyes shining with worry, and bringing Suki out of her head. 

With a sigh, she says something, because she’s not the girl to quietly take the things that are handed to her, even if she feels like tattling is wrong. 

“Mei Ling was saying bad things about my soulmate,” Suki says and there’s a moment of silence before her mother sighs and her mama bites her trembling lip. 

“Suki, we told you to keep that one covered,” Mama says with a hushed tone, but Suki shakes her head. Because it’s the soulmark she’s not forced to keep hidden that’s causing her issues. And it's because she covers her second soulmark that she hardly ever gets problems for having it, though that doesn’t mean there aren’t people who don't know about the second mark. She still doesn’t get what the big deal is about it. Because there are people in the village who have one, two, three, and even four marks. 

But that's a question for another day. 

“No, it’s not that one,” Suki says, a bit of frustration bubbling up in her gut. “Mei Ling told me that my soulmate will be sexist because they’re from the Water Tribe, but wouldn’t listen to me when I said that maybe she’s a girl…”

“Why does Mei Ling think your soulmate is a boy?” Her mother asks as she ushers everyone to sit down so that the dinner she spent all night cooking can still be served while it's hot. 

“Because of the sword," Suki explains when she sits down, "she said that weapons are only owned by Water Tribe boys and they’re all sexists because that’s how their culture is,” Suki says as her mother hands her a bowl of rice. 

“Anyone of any gender can wield a weapon, it doesn’t matter their cultural background, though sometimes it can influence that choice.” Her mama says as she takes her own bowl. “I mean, I wield a powerful set of weapons as Captain of the Kyoshi Warriors and I’m a woman, living in the Earth Kingdom, a place that says I shouldn’t fight either.” 

“And I think I’m quite skilled as an archer, despite preferring to stay home to raise my daughter.” Her mother adds with a smile. 

“But this is Kyoshi Island...Old Lady Haruka says we're different from the rest of the world...” 

Mama frowns and asks Suki to hold out her wrist across the table. So, Suki exposes her soulmark. Looking at her mark, she’s always loved the beautiful shades of blue and white coloring in the sharp boomerang, the vibrant black shading in the striking blade of the sword, and the sapphire-colored ribbon tied around the handle of the sword, telling her where her soulmate will be from.

Suki has always found it comforting that the weapons etched into her skin seem to indicate that her soulmate will be as strong as her one day. 

“Do you see the sword and the boomerang and how they cross?” Mama asks taking Suki out of her head. And Suki nods, watching as her mama traces the shape of her soulmark with her fingers. “They’re in a defensive position, a protective position.”

“I’m capable of protecting myself.” She huffs, which earns a laugh from both of her parents. 

“And you will make a fine warrior one day, my love,” Mama says with a smile. “But needing protection doesn’t mean weakness, it means strength,” and Suki tilts her head, waiting for the rest of her mama’s explanation, “because it means that you can be vulnerable around the ones you love, that you trust them enough to protect you when you truly need them.” 

Suki nods, taking in her mama’s words. 

“Having weapons as a mark doesn’t determine your soulmate’s gender.” She continues. “But it shows that whoever your soulmate is, they’ll fight for you, protect you, and maybe even fight with you on the battlefield.” 

“So they might not be a sexist pig-sheep then?” Suki asks and she can see her mother stifling a laugh as she chews on her food. 

“Maybe not, and if they are, I know you’ll be the one to teach them better,” Mama says, lifting her chopsticks, which holds a heavy piece of meat between them.

And Suki smiles, feeling better about her soulmark and her fate with her soulmate now than before. 

But even though Suki is less worried about her Water Tribe soulmate being a jerk, she still wonders about her hidden soulmark and often struggles to bring the subject up with her parents, as she is a little afraid to ask them why she has to hide that soulmark over the other.

**~*~*~**

Suki is eight-years-old when she begins her training to become a Kyoshi Warrior. Her moms are both immensely proud of her and she surprises everyone in her village when she works her way up the ranks quickly, going from beginning sparring sessions to intermediate ones within just one year of training. She’s the youngest in her group, being only nine-years-old when she moves into the next phase of becoming a Kyoshi Warrior, while the other girls in her division are twelve, thirteen, and even fourteen years old. 

It impresses the girls in her division while some of the older warriors question whether or not Suki is actually as skilled as she is or if it's her mom's influence, that's pushing her up the ladder as fast as she's going. They're wrong, obviously. Suki knows that her passion for becoming a Kyoshi Warrior is all based upon the fact that she wants to be the best fighter that she can be in order to keep her home and her family safe. 

Suki is also doing everything that she can to prove herself as a capable warrior, to silence the distrust from any of the people on the island who think they’re being subtle when they talk about Suki behind her back. Suki learns very early on that people can be mean when they hold a lot of fear and uncertainty in their hearts. And though she doesn't completely understand what that fear is when it comes to her, Suki still hopes to remedy it. And her plan seems to work mostly because, by the time she moves onto the harder lessons, more and more people believe in Suki's loyalty. 

Another thing that Suki doesn't always understand is why she has to hide one of her soulmates from the rest of the village. She gets into petty arguments with her parents when she musters up the courage to ask about it and every time they refuse to answer, giving her the same lame excuse of "we'll tell you when you're older."

And Suki does eventually find out when she's older but she is probably still too young in her moms' eyes when she does. Because when Suki is halfway to her tenth birthday, she finally understands why she has to cover her second soulmark.

One spring morning, Kyoshi Island is greeted by a Fire Nation navy fleet, willing to pay a pretty penny for food and supplies and though they are given the provisions, Suki notices that the same looks that the Fire Nation soldiers receive from the merchants and the families in the market are the same looks she gets from some of the adults in her village that know about her second soulmark. 

And since Suki is a smart girl, she can quickly and easily put two and two together. She knows that the crimson coloring on the ribbon etched into the skin of her wrist is the same shade of red that is worn by the Fire Nation Soldiers visiting her village, it's the same red of the flag that is flown from the ship’s flagpole, and it's the same red that paints the destructive flames they can bend.

But it's also the same red that stains the soldier’s hands.

Suki realizes that her second soulmate is Fire Nation in the middle of the market on a warm afternoon, and yet a chill runs up her spine as she feels the sickening familiarity of the hardened gazes the soldiers are receiving.

She realizes at that moment that her having a Fire Nation soulmate marks her as someone who could likely be swayed onto the opposing side of a war that her home is neutral in. Her soulmate's nationality is the reason why she has to cover the mark on her wrist. It's also the reason why so many people in the village think less of her and why some of her peers ostracize her. And it's why she has to do more and be more than any of the other girls on the island because people are afraid of her for having a Fire Nation soulmate. 

Figuring this all out knocks the air from Suki's lungs and she is left to stare out into the horizon, watching in horror as the Fire Nation ships leave their port.

That night, Suki cries into her mothers’ arms, apologizing to them for her second soulmark. 

However, her parents don't say anything reassuring to her. And yet? Suki doesn’t blame them for not being able to say anything nice about her soulmate that is from the Nation that unjustly drove the entire world into an endless war. She doesn't expect them to even try to say anything comforting since she is the one that’s cursed her family, and possibly her home, after all. 

But now that Suki knows the severity of her second soulmark, she is even more careful when hiding it than before, wanting to keep it hidden for her mothers’ sakes and for hers as well. 

The fewer people who know the truth, the better. 

And her vigilance seems to work until it doesn't. 

Suki is happily training with one of the older girls, Su Yang, one afternoon in the dojo. She is sweaty, breathing hard, and quick to evade most of Su Yang's powerful kicks and jabs. Their sparring session has accumulated an audience too, with the intensity of their fight drawing the attention of everyone in the dojo. Half of the girls cheer for Suki while the other half cheer for Su Yang. Suki can hear her mom cheering them both on, but Suki knows her mom is rooting for her to win. 

Suki grins and leaps over Su Yang to dodge another kick and swipes at her with her fans. But Su Yang is quicker and she kicks the fans from Suki's hands and Suki frowns but continues with the fight, reminding herself to work on that. 

The two girls get closer to each other as they fight, their terrain shrinking with the growing audience surrounding them. Suki blocks the hits with her forearms instead of dodging and Su Yang uses that to her advantage in getting an upper hand against Suki.

Su Yang, like the other girls, know Suki always wears a scarf on her wrist, doesn't matter if she's wearing her uniform or not. So Su Yang grabs onto Suki's arm and tugs on the scarf, pulling Suki closer towards her and then locks her arms behind her back, trying to apprehend her and make her yield. But Suki isn't the one to back down so easily. So she keeps tugging her arm out of Su Yang's hold. However, when she manages to break free, the material of the scarf rips, and the sound of the threads snapping echo in Suki's ears, a sound that would haunt her in the following months.

As the scarf falls to the floor, it reveals the soulmark that Suki is meant to keep hidden. 

Su Yang notices the red ribbon on Suki's soulmark almost immediately after it is revealed and the older girl gasps audibly. 

The gasp gets the other’s attention and suddenly, the eyes of admiration that had been watching her change into eyes of shock. 

“She has a soulmate that's Fire Nation!” Su Yang exclaims loud enough for probably the whole island to hear. 

“A Fire Nation soulmate?” Someone questions. 

“She could be a spy!” Someone else shouts.

“So that’s what my father meant when he told me not to trust Suki.” A voice mutters. 

“My mother says she’ll grow up to be a sympathizer.” Another says. 

Suki keeps her gaze away from the crowd of girls growing closer to her and frantically looks on the ground for her torn scarf, but doesn't see it in the sea of boots around her. She tries to regulate her breathing, to not show fear, but she's just as scared as her peers are right now.

“My parents said that they saw her mark once before but I didn’t believe them then.” Someone else then says. 

“She’s a traitor!” Someone shouts.

“An ash-lover!” Another adds.

And the insults just keep coming hurting Suki far worse than any amount of physical pain that she's ever been through. 

Suki's mom comes to her senses and quickly tries to break up the crowd that begins to surround Suki, throwing nasty words her way and insinuating that she’s untrustworthy and shouldn’t be allowed to become a Kyoshi Warrior anymore. 

“That’s enough!” Her mom exclaims and breaks a path between the crowd of girls around Suki. 

But instead of waiting to see what her mom has to say, Suki sees the opportunity to run and she takes it. She bolts from the middle of the mob and runs past her mom, bumping into her side hard, before she runs out the door of the dojo and away from the village and the people so that she can cry in shame in solitude. 

Suki finds herself underneath some trees in the bamboo forest, listening to the panda monkeys talking to each other as she sobs most of her makeup off into the dark green 3/4ths sleeves of her dress. Suki cries until she can't anymore and stays sitting on the dirt ground until she feels her bottom go numb and her legs become static. So then she stands up, hiccups, and realizes she’s made it to the other side of the island.

She then finds herself walking towards the Shrine of Kyoshi, her legs move as if independent from the rest of her body, but she doesn't bother questioning it and instead lets it happen. Suki has her arms wrapped around her middle as if she were hugging herself in comfort and she staggers her way into the shrine. Once she's inside the shrine, her boots squeak against the wooden floor beneath her, and her red-rimmed eyes stare at the marble bust of Avatar Kyoshi, where her headdress rests and remains unused for almost two hundred years. 

Emotional exhaustion pulls Suki down and she falls to her knees in front of the bust of Kyoshi and finds herself crying again. She doesn’t know what she's going to do now that everyone will know for sure that her soulmate is Fire Nation. This time, however, her mother can no longer squash the rumors like she has been since she brought Suki to Kyoshi Island. And Suki knows that she'll be shunned by all her peers and not just the preppy older girls who have a problem with her. Now she'll be treated even more like scum by the village and not just the select dozen who somehow already knew her fate. Even her close friends might leave her so they aren’t met with the same ridicule for being friends with her. 

Suki is only lucky that her mom is the captain of the Kyoshi Warriors because she would likely be kicked out if she wasn't. 

Closing her eyes, Suki is no longer sad about people finding out about her second soulmark. Instead, a rage claws at her insides, asking why me? Why did this have to happen to her? She didn't ask for a Fire Nation soulmate, why is she fated to have to suffer? Why is she the unlucky one to be dealt with such an unfair fate? Suki's fists begin to clench in her lap and if she weren’t in a holy place she’d surely punch a hole through the floor for sure. 

Instead, she tries to calm down, focuses on her breathing, and reorganizes the chi flowing through her body. But it's easier said than done as a new wave of tears crash down on her. 

“What seems to be troubling you, my young warrior?” 

Suki startles and then stills. The voice doesn’t belong to her mom and somehow it isn’t coming from behind her either. She doesn't even recognize the voice and soon realizes why.

Because the voice doesn't belong to anyone she knows and it's coming from in front of her. 

Quickly, Suki looks up and instead of being met with two stone eyes, she's looking into the soft brown eyes of Avatar Kyoshi herself. 

“This can’t be real?” Suki says dazed. Her eyes are blinking as if they are full of some magical powder that could be used to trick on her into seeing things that aren't actually there. Suki refuses the urge she has to rub her eyes at the sight of Avatar Kyoshi as well as stops herself from reaching out to touch her as she is now sitting cross-legged in front of Suki, looking at her with worry. 

Because this is obviously a trick of some sort, or a dream maybe? Suki isn't so sure at the moment. 

“I am not here physically if that is what you are wondering,” Kyoshi says with a small smile. 

“Why are you here then?” She asks and immediately wishes she phrased her words more kindly and respectfully. 

“One of my girls is crying within my shrine, any other spirit wouldn’t just stay silent on the matter either.”

“I’m sorry…” Suki says with a slight bow of her head. 

“You mustn’t apologize for your feelings," Kyoshi tells her, "you are a warrior, yes, but you are a woman still and so you're allowed to feel things strongly and with all of your heart and soul.” 

“I feel like a disgrace.” Suki finds herself admitting to the spirit of Kyoshi. 

“You are the youngest girl in your division and clearly you are on your way to becoming a captain like your mother,” Kyoshi says with a dash of pride in her tone. 

“My soulmate is Fire Nation, so no matter how skilled of a fighter I am, no one will ever trust me after finding this out,” Suki explains, averting her eyes from the Avatar. 

“My soulmate was Fire Nation,” And Suki quickly looks back up at Kyoshi as she continues, “Rangi was her name, she was Fire Nation and my soulmate and there is nothing disgraceful about having a soulmate from the Fire Nation.”

“But you’ve been dead for over a century, the Fire Nation…”

“Fire Lord Sozin held the power of an entire nation in his hands and his greedy heart yearned for more, so he dragged his people into an unjust war.”

“But isn't everyone from the Fire Nation born evil?”

And Kyoshi is silent for a moment, her dark ghostly eyes staring at Suki. 

Suki bites her lip in anticipation of the woman's next words. 

“The people of the Fire Nation have always been rough around the edges, prideful as well, and even a bit arrogant," Kyoshi says and chuckles a little at her own words, "but they are as fierce as the flames they can bend, with hearts full of warmth and love for their families and friends, and they are incredibly stubborn too," Kyoshi tells her and Suki's eyes light up at her words. She's never heard anyone say such good things about people from the Fire Nation before and it's a nice change. It makes Suki hopeful and almost excited to meet her second soulmate now. 

"Was Rangi all those things?" Suki asks and Kyoshi smiles, nodding in affirmation.

"She was all that and more," Kyoshi says fondly. 

"So she wasn't evil?"

"She, like all people, was not without her faults, but she was a good person, and should she have been alive to see what Fire Lord Sozin had done to her nation she wouldn't have stood for it."

"So there is hope then? That some people don't want this war to continue?" Suki asks.

"There are many people from the Fire Nation who are against the war but fear drives them into silence and conformity. And though many of them are taught to be cruel and kill unjustly, no one is born evil.” 

“I hope that’s the case then...at least for me…” Suki admits. 

“I have faith that your soulmate will be the right match for you.” Kyoshi tells her, “they may not be as evil as you or others perceive them to be at first, but of course, their heart will still be hardened from their upbringing and their soul may need mending from years of being at war with themselves, but they will have you and your third to help them find their way when they need it.”

Hopeful, Suki smiles a bit brighter, “thank you Avatar Kyoshi.”

“You are an honorable warrior Suki," Kyoshi tells her, "you are a trustworthy young girl, incredibly strong both physically and mentally and most importantly of all, you know where your loyalty lies. So I know that you can survive this hardship, even if some people still look down upon you for having a soulmate from the Fire Nation.” She finishes with a slight bow of her head and Suki returns the sentiment. 

And with her final words of wisdom; Kyoshi slowly begins to fade from Suki's vision and everything around her turns black. 

Suki finds herself waking up in her mom's arms, as she carries Suki away from the Shrine of Kyoshi with the sun setting behind them. 

Suki doesn’t know if the vision of Kyoshi she had was a true spiritual visit, a dream manifested by her emotional turmoil, or a strange hallucination. But she takes the words Kyoshi said to heart. 

Her soulmate might not be evil, so she will give them the benefit of the doubt unless proven otherwise, and hopes that her friends, fellow warriors, and the people of her village are kind enough to see past her soulmark to see who Suki is at heart. A strong and confident warrior willing to fight for her home.

**~*~*~**

By the time Suki is twelve years old, she’s completed her training and all without succumbing to the ridicule of some of her peers who don’t trust her. But at twelve, Suki isn’t much of a victim to bullying anymore. Sometime between everyone in the village finding out about the identity of her second soulmate and her finishing her training, the vast majority of the people who were once wary of her no longer feel that way. 

Suki thinks this is because she’s proved herself over and over that she is a loyal, honorable, and worthy warrior just like Kyoshi told her she would.

She saved a boy from swimming too far out into the sea and who was almost eaten by the Unagi. 

She helped locate two young toddlers who wandered too far from home.

She helped drive away the Earth Kingdom forces trying to recruit the men of the village into signing up for the draft.

She helped stop a bunch of pirates from plundering the island. 

And she stopped a Fire Nation soldier from harassing a young woman and her teenage sister. 

So now that she's survived the teasing, the frightened looks, and false claims of betrayal through her actions, Suki has been thriving. She's been making friends, finishing her training, and working her way to becoming the best Kyoshi Warrior since Avatar Kyoshi herself. 

But there are still some people, most of them adults and parents of her fellow Kyoshi Warriors who still believe Suki to be a danger to them. And it hurts still, but Suki hopes that one day she'll be able to turn everyone who thinks otherwise onto her side. 

It'll take work and though Suki will be hurt if not everyone trusts her, she knows the feat at hand will be the most challenging mission she'll have to accomplish. 

Suki also isn't able to forgive those who have hurt her so easily. It's taking time for her to truly believe the remorse some of the people have for teasing her and not trusting her, but Suki understands that this too isn't an easy thing for them to get over. 

Sometimes she wishes she'd never been born with the second soulmate so that she would have been spared from all the heartache she receives for them. But quickly, Avatar Kyoshi's words of affirmation take over and remove those thoughts from her head. 

But Suki's life won't be able to stay the same for long. 

One night, when the tide is high and the moon shines full and bright over the island, Suki is quietly walking through the hallway of her house and back to her bedroom after getting herself a cup of water when she passes her parents’ bedroom and notices the candle illuminating in the darkness of the room. The light passes through the slightly cracked-open door and reveals two shadows whispering in the dimly-lit room to each other. 

“You are not leaving me for some reckless mission in Chameleon Bay.” Suki hears her mother say. 

“I am the Captain, I am needed with my warriors to lead them on their mission.” Her mom responds. 

“But Rin—”

“Soo Yun, please, I have to do this.” 

“Then I’m not letting you go alone.” Suki’s mother says. 

“What about our daughter?”

“I—” 

And Suki quickly moves away from the door and stops herself from eavesdropping any longer. But though she returns to her bed, she does not sleep. Suki didn't even know that her mom was thinking of leaving Kyoshi Island with the older Kyoshi Warriors. And now it seems her mother might leave with her too!

Suki feels sick but it’s not the braised duck that’s upsetting her stomach, it’s the dread of losing her moms in the war and having her family ripped apart. 

The next morning, after breakfast, Suki walks with her mom to the dojo and is quiet the entire walk there. But her mom doesn't pick up on her anxiety and instead continues talking to her about frivolous things. But Suki is barely retaining the information, she can tell it's something funny, a joke one of the vegetable merchants told her or something about someone's cabbages.

Once they arrive at the dojo together, Suki's mom commands her warriors to sit down. The younger girls, the junior warriors, sit on the floor, while the older girls, the senior warriors, and Suki stand on the platform in front of them. Suki is suspicious that she already knows exactly what's going to happen. Her mom is going to break the news of her departure to everyone now. 

“As you all know, the world has been at war with the Fire Nation for nearly a century now,” Suki's mom says with the familiar attention-grabbing authority in her tone that she always uses during meetings like this. “And though Kyoshi Island has been neutral in this war, the senior warriors and I have been discussing aiding the Eastern Earth Kingdom in their fight against the Fire Nation.”

Suddenly, hushed and worried voices pick up from the crowd of girls sitting below and Suki starts to wonder why she wasn’t included in the discussions. She is a senior warrior after all. One of the youngest senior warriors in decades. 

Suki wonders why she's been left out of the discussions. Is it because she's the captain's daughter? Is it because she's the youngest of the division?

Neither of those rationalizations makes sense to her. In fact, they should make certain she be included in the discussions.

But then a dark cloud of taunting thoughts enters her mind with an explanation that makes Suki want to cry and break something at the same time.

Does her own mom not trust her to come with to fight against the Fire Nation because of her soulmark?

No.

That can’t be the case. 

Can it?

Both her mothers have never once said Suki was bad for having a soulmate from the Fire Nation. But that doesn't mean they like it nor have they ever tried to reassure her that it will all be okay in the end. Instead, all they've made her feel is shame and frustration and have forced her to cover her mark from a time when she was far too young to understand the true meaning behind the beige scarf that now stays permanently wrapped around her wrist. 

Suki’s spiraling thoughts are interrupted by her mom speaking up once more, “Since I will be leading the senior warriors into battle, that means you girls will need to stick to your training and continue on your paths into becoming fully trained senior warriors yourself without us.”

In the sea of the crowd, the girls blink, and while some hold worry in their gazes of their mothers, sisters, aunts, and/or cousins going off to war the others worry about the obvious, who will be the new captain while Suki’s mom is away?

Suki is the youngest senior Kyoshi Warrior, only twelve-years-old, but the second youngest is seventeen-years-old, a whole five years older than her, and so that puts the oldest junior Kyoshi warrior at fifteen. 

That means that Bao Yu might become captain next as she is the oldest one staying behind. 

But where does that leave Suki? 

Will she just be the only senior warrior left behind then? But why? She has consciously been left out the conversation between her mom and the other senior Kyoshi Warriors altogether and it's not a coincidence that those going to fight the war against the Fire Nation leave out the only one in their division with a Fire Nation soulmark. 

A surge of anger flares through Suki, quick to take over her body like the match that starts a devastating forest fire. 

Even though she knows her moms don’t like the fact that she has a soulmate from the Fire Nation, Suki has never imagined that either one of them would distrust her when it came to something as important as fighting in the war being waged by the Fire Lord and his army. 

The rage blazes through her, it’s uncontainable, and finally boils over. 

Suki turns towards her mom, fists at her sides, and says, “you say you discussed leaving with the other senior warriors and yet I wasn’t included in those conversations at all.”

Her mom is stunned for a moment at Suki's outburst but then she turns towards Suki with a frown, “it’s different, you’re my daughter, I planned to tell you more in private later today.” She says with a harsh tone. 

“Or maybe you’re just like everyone else in the village; talking about me behind my back and thinking less of me? You don’t think I’m capable of being loyal to Kyoshi Island because my soulmate is Fire Nation!”

Suki can hear gasps and hushed words erupt from everyone in the dojo. They have an audience witnessing their argument and though Suki suddenly feels self-conscious she can’t really take it back now can she?

“Suki, you know you are one of the most loyal and honorable warriors I have.” Her mom says with tears in her eyes. The sight makes Suki want to cry too. 

“Then why did you deliberately leave me out? Why did I have to overhear about you leaving in the first place last night when you were talking with Mother?”

“Because I had to ask her for permission to leave you behind and make you the Captain of the Kyoshi Warriors in my absence.” Her mom says. 

Suddenly, Suki feels like a fool, while at the same time she can’t help but feel a rush of pride and accomplishment overcome her. 

“What?” Is all that Suki can respond with though. 

“Suki...my beautiful swan-dove, you’re soulmate maybe Fire Nation, but your heart belongs to the Kyoshi Warriors, and you would give your life to protect our village and our people, which is why I know you’ll make an amazing captain.” 

Her mom bows and Suki stands and stares, watching as all of her fellow warriors turn and bow towards her, following her mom's example. 

As her eyes scan through the dojo, watching her peers bow to her, the realization hits Suki like a tsunami. Because, finally, after so many years of trying to be more and trying to be the best, she's done it. Suki will be the next captain and she is being trusted to lead the Kyoshi Warriors as well as protect the village when she thought for so long that none of these things would become a reality because of who her soulmate is. 

Still stunned, Suki manages to bow and thank her mother with just enough dignity to impress her warriors. 

Later that day, after a round of congratulations, Suki's mom announces their departure will be at the end of the year and so Suki will have six months to prepare to become captain. And she's already ready to get started. But her outburst earlier still nags at her, telling her she was acting like a child having a tantrum and suddenly feels embarrassed. 

At the end of the day, Suki sweeps up the dojo and waits for her mom to finish speaking to Mei Ling. And when she sees the other girl leave, Suki puts the broom up and runs towards her mom with tears in her eyes. But first, she stops in front of her mom and bows. 

"I'm so sorry Mama," Suki says. "I shouldn't have gotten angry earlier, I'm incredibly grateful for being given the role of captain in your absence." 

"You deserve it, sweetheart." Her mom says. "And though I accept your apology, it should be me who's apologizing." 

And Suki looks up at her mom, confused but curious. 

"I made you think I didn't trust you...when I feel the exact opposite." She explains, "I've never meant for that to happen and I'm sorry I made you feel that way."

Suki smiles a bit and gets up to engulf her mom in a bone-crushing hug. 

"I accept your apology too Mama," Suki says and her mom returns the hug. 

Within the next six months, Suki learns how to be a captain, and though she is confident in her abilities, she's still nervous about leading, but if she weren't a little nervous then she wouldn't be a good leader, would she?

At the same time, Suki is preparing to move in with Bao Yu and her parents since her mother will be joining her mom on her journey to the Eastern Earth Kingdom at the end of the year. Suki is still young, she's still just a girl, she still needs her parents, but she knows that where her parents need to be and where she needs to be are both two different places. Their separate duties are too important but they know that no amount of time or space between them will ever truly keep them apart. 

And yet, Suki worries about them. Her mom may be a skilled warrior but her mother isn't one and so she has the right to worry and the right to feel upset about her mother leaving her. However, she understands that her mother needs to be with her mom because soulmates being apart for long periods can be devastating.

But it doesn't make the goodbyes any easier. 

On the morning of her parents' departure, Suki hugs them both tightly, allowing herself to be consumed by the loving embrace of both her mothers, who she can tell are just as saddened to leave her as she is to see them go. But, in the end, she'll push them to leave so they can do what they need too.

The junior Kyoshi Warriors staying behind are all dressed in full ceremonial robes and makeup and they stand on the beach with mourning family members and everyone bids farewell to the women leaving, some have a harder time letting go than others.

And as the women embark on the ship, the crowd of people on the beach wave goodbye until the boat leaves port and begins to sail away from the island.

But Suki waves longer than the other girls and even the family members. And as the ship turns due east, Suki follows suit and runs in the same direction of the ship as it's still in her line of sight. Her feet fly, carrying her over the sandy beach, up the dirt path, and through the bamboo forest until she finds herself standing on top of the cliffside on the eastern part of the island.

She stops dead on her feet, blood coursing through her veins and wind blowing through her chestnut-colored hair. Suki stands on the farthest edge of the cliff and continues to wave goodbye to her moms, watching as the large, unmarked ship grows smaller and smaller and sails off into the unknown sea-green and sky-blue horizon beyond Kyoshi Island. 

And if Suki had the vision of an eagle-hawk to aid her, she could swear she saw her moms waving back to her the entire time she was too. 

**~*~*~**

Suki, now fifteen years of age, grew up thinking the Avatar was gone forever, but seeing the last airbending Avatar in the world do a strange but kind of cool floating marble trick is not something she’d ever expected to see ever in her life.

And the sight almost brings tears to Suki’s eyes. Because there is hope now that there will be someone strong enough to stop the Fire Nation’s expansion into the Earth Kingdom, to stop the killing of the waterbenders in the South Pole, and to stop all the death, destruction, and famine plaguing the earth. 

The Avatar is just a kid though. He's just a young boy who still hasn’t fully grasped that the fate of the world is literally balancing on his ability to murder someone more than twice his age and height. And that both scares and saddens Suki. But she understands that destiny and duty are strange things and she only hopes that the Avatar will be able to be successful without causing any serious harm to himself both physically and mentally. 

The Avatar’s friends are from the Water Tribe, the girl is sweet and compassionate and the boy is literally everything she’s ever feared that her soulmate from the Water Tribe will be like. He’s terribly arrogant, offensively sexist, and annoyingly delusional. He claims he’s a warrior and yet can’t even hold his own in a fight. And the worst part, he doesn’t even own up to being proven wrong, he just makes excuses for himself and tries to blame something or someone else. 

But after a couple of failed attempts at redemption in a couple of completely unfair (for Sokka) sparring matches, it seems that Suki and the other Kyoshi Warriors manage to beat a little sense into the Water Tribe boy because he finally comes around and admits defeat. He even generously asks to be trained in the ways of the Kyoshi Warriors. 

It’s not complete growth, but the humility of his admission to being 1) wrong and 2) an absolute joke of a warrior makes Suki internally grateful that some men are capable of changing their sexist ways. This also impresses Suki, so, with barely any reluctance, she decides to train him. 

And surprisingly, it goes better than she hoped. 

Sokka learns fast; he’s smart, tactical, quick on his feet, and it's a bit surprising how easily he comes to getting used to wearing a dress and makeup while also learning to fight by being lighter on his feet than from any other warrior fighting styles he would typically train in. 

It seems that there is hope for him yet. 

After some time of training, they decide to take a break and Sokka admits to Suki that he believes that he has a soulmate that is a Kyoshi Warrior.

Upon learning this, Suki immediately lifts her sleeve to show him her Water Tribe soulmark. While Sokka looks at her mark and while she looks at Sokka's soulmark, she realizes that he's her soulmate. Suddenly the world around her stills for a moment. Because Suki’s soul is now more complete than it was just the other day and the feeling of unconditional love and completeness is nothing like she’s ever felt before. 

She feels like a missing puzzle piece has been added to her heart. She feels like the scorched earth as it drinks up the first drops of rainwater after a forest fire. She feels like there’s a wave of warmth and even safety flooding her veins, keeping her comforted and protected in the darkest, scariest, and coldest of nights. She feels joy, love, and so many other things that it’s almost too many feelings to handle. 

She can tell that Sokka is feeling the same too. 

It’s how it is with soulmates, Suki can remember her mothers telling her how they felt when they first met each other, "once two or more souls meet they just know that a hole in their soul has been filled because suddenly they’re new people," and Suki soaks up the rush of feelings, not wanting it to end.

But even though the initial feeling does stop, the overall permanent feeling of being a more complete soul never truly goes away. 

Once the two of them start talking again, Suki manages the courage to ask Sokka about their third, curious if he even has the mark at all.

When he discloses that he cut the mark off his wrist after the Fire Nation killed his mother, Suki feels sympathetic and wants nothing more than to bring Sokka in for a hug. But despite being soulmates they’re still technically strangers so she doesn't want push past any boundaries he may have. But they’ll get the chance to grow and evolve together as people and as a couple with time. 

But right now their budding relationship will have to be put on hold because Sokka has a mission and duty to helping the Avatar and watching his sister and Suki understands this because her duty is to her girls and to her home. 

(And later, when Suki tells the girls about Sokka being her soulmate, she'll laugh along with them when they mock the older girls who thought Suki's Water Tribe soulmate would be an unreachable sexist loser hell-bent on making Suki his bare-foot and pregnant house-wife). 

The happiness and lightness Suki feels with Sokka don't last though, because, during their afternoon sparring session, the Fire Nation attacks the village, and Suki springs into action with Sokka by her side. And it's strange because even though they've never fought together until now, the feeling of fighting with him is easy and natural. 

Suki suddenly remembers once more the words her mom told her years ago; soulmarks depicting weapons mean that Suki and Sokka will fight with each other, for each other, and they will always be there to protect each other because that is who they are, they’re warriors and they don’t give up without a fight. 

Which means that they'll have time to be together once they're done fighting in this war. 

But it doesn't seem like they'll be done fighting this war anytime soon. 

Suki watches as Sokka, his sister, the Avatar, and their flying bison disappear into the golden haze of the twilight sky. Then she turns her attention to the flood of seawater from the rain caused by the Unagi as it recedes from the village, putting out the flames in its wake and taking out the Fire Nation ship in the process. Her eyes glaze over as she feels a different flood, this one of emotion, wash over her. 

In the span of just a few hours, Suki's met her soulmate, watched him leave, and has had her home burnt down. And it’s all so much, too much, for one day.

The wooden structures of the houses along the western side of the island are all burnt to a crisp, the once beautiful brown oak wood turned to black and is as brittle as the leaves in autumn. As for the shops in the market, their produce is now charred to the point of being inedible and the scent of overcooked meats, vegetables, and fruit, makes Suki’s stomach roll. But she manages to keep down her lunch, if just barely. 

The school has been scorched down to nothing but ash and though the dojo has been incinerated it still stands like the strength of Avatar Kyoshi herself is what’s keeping it from collapsing. 

The village elders weep over the destruction of their beloved home and the children stand dazed, having been exposed to the truly diabolical nature of the Fire Nation for the first time in their lives. 

Suki looks around at her girls, counting to make sure they were all alive after doing their part in fighting for their village. She sees Ju Lin to her right and Kimi to her left. Aiko and Hana are helping up Bao Yu, and Aimi and Hua Chen are walking towards them, the paint from their face wiped clean off, and their entire bodies drenched from ocean water. They’d been the few in the Avatar’s path when he used the Unagi to save the village. 

Suki lets out a heavy sigh and tries to compose herself. The little girl in her wants to cry, the leader in her wants to do a headcount of the village and help those she can, and the teenager in her is so angry she wants to land one more punch on the Fire Nation soldiers responsible for this. 

But it’s the hope living inside her that sees the bright side of all of this. The Avatar only knows one element and is already capable of so much power, and the evidence is right in front of her, there’s a chance now that the war can finally end. 

Suki breathes in the scent of smoke, ash, and seawater and sedates herself long enough to get some work done. She turns towards her girls, “Bao Yu, do you need immediate medical help?” She asks. 

“All good here Captain, it’s just a sprain.” She says as she leans against Hana. Bao Yu’s soulmate, Yao Chang is quick to come to her side, offering to shoulder her weight instead of Hana, and though the nineteen-year-old boy is only a tailor, he’s still able to muster the strength to carry his limping soulmate so she doesn’t aggravate her injury. 

Suki smiles at the sight, but her heart stings, already missing her own soulmate even though she’s only known him for half a day. 

Shaking her head, Suki continues to assess the damages done, “Aiko, Kimi, go out to all the houses and make sure no one is trapped or injured,” the girls nod and take off in the direction of the homes, “Aimi, Hua Chen, are you two alright?” 

“Well neither one of us drowned so I say we’re okay,” Aimi tells her. 

“I smell like Unagi saliva, how is that okay?” Hua Chen scoffs but then assures Suki that she's actually okay.

“Alright, then you two can go check on the other buildings, make sure no one’s been crushed, burnt, or drowned.” And the girls nod, bounding off to complete their tasks, leaving behind a trail of water droplets from their persons. 

“Ju Lin, come with me, we’ll go take a headcount and get the younger girls to hand out the emergency supplies.”

And Ju Lin tells her she doesn’t know if their emergency supplies were a hundred percent safe from the fires, but they go and check anyway. 

They find the duffle bags unharmed and so they go around handing out flasks of water, wool towels, and cloaks to those who need them and they take note of any injuries or deaths. 

No one has died and not a single person has sustained any injuries that could kill them. The worst injuries are sprained ankles and a few minor burns to some of Suki’s girl’s from the fight against the Fire Nation soldiers, but beyond that, the rest of the village is alive and well, waterlogged and mourning the loss of their homes, but alive. 

Plans to rebuild are scheduled almost immediately and the entirety of the Island does their part in the planning while the kids go off to play amongst the debris of the village. 

Suki stays strong the entire evening, following through with her role as Captain the way she’s been taught by her mom and manages to keep things running smoothly despite the destruction and piercing pain she feels in her heart.

The entire village is out underneath the darkening skies that evening, eating dinner, talking amongst each other, and going about their lives like nothing bad even happened. And it brings Suki hope that once they rebuild, life on Kyoshi Island can remain the way it’s always been. 

As dusk turns to night, Suki has Aiko and Hana take watch while she dips out for a moment. Her strength in a crisis can last only so long before she needs a moment to allow herself a chance to have a breakdown in a controlled and healthy manner. 

Staggering out onto the beach, Suki slumps over in the sand, sitting down with her back against a boulder that has been smoothed by the erosion of the salty waves and sandy winds. 

There is a moment of silence that she takes as her mind wraps itself around the events of today. She feels relief that no one was seriously hurt or killed during the attack, and then that energy coursing through her, keeping her stable in the aftermath of the fight, finally dwindles into nothingness. 

She’s exhausted and if she weren't already sitting, she’d for sure fall to her knees from the weight of the fatigue she feels. 

As the waves crash against the beach, Suki stares out into the sea taking in deep breaths until she can no longer hold back her tears. She sobs into her hands, quiet enough not to draw any worry to herself from the village, but loud enough for the wind to pick up the sound and carry it off into the starry night sky. 

Suki doesn’t know how long she spends on the beach, but she’s there long enough that the tide is nearly high enough to reach her feet. She manages to get the tears out of her system and so she dabs away the wetness from her white-painted cheeks and sighs. 

She’s met her soulmate finally, fifteen-years-old and she’s met her soulmate and he wasn’t the sexist pig-sheep the older girls used to tease her for, at least, he wasn’t as bad as he could have been. He at least tried to learn to stray away from his sexist views, and Suki figures that Sokka’s still got a lot to learn. But she's also willing to help him along since it seems he’s willing to change. 

That’s if she ever gets to see him again. 

Sokka is traveling with the Avatar to stop the war, to take down the Fire Lord, and to bring back the era of peace that once existed in the world. He’s essentially number one on the Fire Nation’s Most Wanted List along with the Avatar and his sister, which means a lot of things can happen to him if he’s unsuccessful with his mission. 

Sokka could be imprisoned, he could be tortured, or worse, he could be killed. 

She stares down at her soulmark and hopes that she never has to see the blues, silvers, and blacks lose their vibrant hues and turn into an ugly greyscale in the event of Sokka dying too soon for them to get to know each other. 

Suki’s fingers begin to mindlessly scratch at the brown scarf around her wrist and she looks down at her hidden mark with newly formed tears in her eyes. 

Sokka had cut out his second mark after the Fire Nation killed his mother. He probably didn’t even hesitate to do it, he just cut it off like the mark meant nothing to him. 

The mark should mean nothing to her too. Especially now.

But Avatar Kyoshi's words from the day she met her in the shine argue against Suki's emotion-driven impulses, reminding her that not everyone from the Fire Nation is evil and that she and Sokka are meant to be with this person. 

And yet, Suki’s hand still fumbles with the knot of the scarf.

As her thin fingers dig into the tied material, she takes the thin veil off of her pale wrist and stuffs it into her pocket. She had only just shown Sokka the mark and now that she’s staring at it again, a feeling of disgust consumes her. 

But the disgust she’s feeling isn’t toward the mark, no, it’s at herself for the idea she has floating around in her head right now. 

Suki reaches into her boot and retrieves a knife, the weapon feels heavy in her hand, heavier than it actually is, and her fingers tremble as they try to grip around the handle. The knife shakes in her hand, unsteady, and unsure, much like her body right now as her mind and heart battle each other for control. 

Her head tells her to cut the soulmark off her skin, to dig the knife into her wrist, and finally cut off the soulmark that’s plagued her with torment and insecurities her whole life. Her head’s voice is angry and loud and overwhelmingly persistent. 

But her heart tells her that the mark belongs to her soulmate, and though they may be Fire Nation, they could still be a good person, someone willing to fight for the end of the war. Her heart’s voice is sad and soft but makes a logical argument in trying to keep Suki from doing something she might regret, especially when she’s too tired and upset to stop herself. 

And echoing within the voice of her own heart is the familiar haunting voice of Avatar Kyoshi reminding her of all the good things about people from the Fire Nation, as she is the one person who has never made Suki feel guilty about wanting her second soulmate. 

The internal struggle going on inside of Suki makes her feel sick again, but she swallows down the feeling and breathes in a heavy but shaky breath instead to try to calm her nerves. 

Suki examines the knife in her hand once more before she finds herself caving to the angry and taunting voice in her head. She digs the sharpest side of the blade against the tip of the two dao blades on her soulmark. Quietly, she bites her bottom lip as she forces herself to push the knife deeper into her skin. 

Blood seeps out from between the hard iron of the blade and the soft peachy flesh of her wrist and drops onto the beach sand below her. Suki’s stomach rolls again and she forces herself to bury the blade deeper into her skin so she can cut off her soulmark in one slice. But she can’t do it and she doesn’t understand why this of all things is making her second guess herself. 

Suki yells as she pulls the blade away from her wrist. 

“I can’t do it,” She admits to herself aloud, tears flowing down her cheeks, “I can’t cut you out of my life when I don’t even know who you are.” She hisses at her soulmark, her soulmate, despite neither being able to hear her. “So don’t make me regret choosing you over my home and my warriors.”

The ‘even though this is the first time I’m doing it,’ goes unspoken. 

And if the sudden lapping of the waves against her ankles is at all a sign, Suki takes it and quickly reaches into her supply pouch for a bandage. The blood quickly stains the white material of the bandage and even seeps through her scarf when she puts it back on her wrist. Suki doesn’t know how deep the cut she made across her wrist is or if it'll scar, but she doesn't care because she was able to stop herself from cutting her soulmark off in the first place.

**~*~*~**

A month after the village is rebuilt, Suki can’t help but feel like she’s not doing enough as a warrior to help her home. The Fire Nation attacked their island, so under these circumstances, that means that Kyoshi should officially no longer be neutral in the war. 

But the elders don’t want to force the young men of Kyoshi Island to sign up for the Earth Kingdom military draft. 

So Suki proposes that Kyoshi Island send the Kyoshi Warriors to fight for them in the war. 

It’s essentially what her mothers and the older warriors are doing right now anyway. 

They get the okay to go and Suki thanks the council and leaves the newly rebuilt town hall to return to the dojo to talk things over with her girls. 

She's nervous of course because she doesn't want to disappoint any of them by leaving, but she knows that leaving home is what she needs to do. She's not needed here, not when she's needed elsewhere.

“I understand if you don’t want to join me in this fight, but I believe the Earth Kingdom can benefit from the additional aid in the war and I want to do my part, so if that means I go alone, I’ll happily move my position as captain to my second in command.”

“We’re not letting you go alone.” Kimi immediately says, not even giving Suki a chance to fully explain herself. Hell, she had a whole speech planned and yet, her girls are quick to follow her lead. And it makes Suki's heart soar because there was a time when it seemed that it would be impossible for Suki to be a trusted Captain of Kyoshi Warriors.

“However, we do still need someone to stay behind to protect the village and train the younger girls and the future new recruits,” Hana adds, taking Suki out of her thoughts. 

“I’ll stay behind.” Bao Yu says. “I am the oldest here and I know I can effectively train the next group of girls in our ways.”

Suki smiles at Bao Yu's words, nodding in agreement with her confidence.

Suki is also happy that it is Bao Yu who is taking the initiative to take up the responsibilities that come with being the captain of the Kyoshi Warriors. Bao Yu is like an older sister to her, and she's the best warrior to be given the position of captain right now. Suki quickly engulfs her friend in a hug, thanking her quietly for volunteering in the first place. 

“You’ll make a great captain,” Suki says with a bow. “I know I can leave the village guilt-free with you here taking charge of things.”

“That still doesn’t mean you’re going alone though.” Hua Chen then states. "Bao Yu maybe the new recruits captain but you're still our captain."

“We want to help you on your mission any way we can,” Aimi adds and Suki looks to her girls with a tearful smile, initiating a group hug immediately. 

When they finally remove themselves from the group hug, Suki decides they will leave at the end of the week, which will give them time to gather and pack as many supplies as they need to get going. It also gives them enough time to say goodbye to their family and friends. 

In the days to come, Suki bids farewell to the junior division of girls, entrusting them in Bao Yu's leadership without any issues. She also says goodbye to Bao Yu and her family as they've been her family since her parents left on their own mission to help the Earth Kingdom in the war. 

Suki spends the night before she and her girls are set to depart writing a letter to her mothers, catching them up on the events of the last month and a half. She tells them about Sokka, about the destruction and quick restoration of the village, as well as her decision to follow their footsteps and join in the war efforts with her group of girls at her side.

She only prays her letter gets to them safely and hopes they will be proud of her and her decision to leave. 

In the morning, Suki hands her letter to the mail deliverer and hurries to the beach where she and her warriors will be leaving in the same way her mothers left three years ago.

Suki understands that this is where her new destiny lies. She may not know what the world outside of Kyoshi Island is like, but she knows she needs to do something to help, the smallest act can go a long way and if she can do her part then she can say with confidence she helped bring peace back to the world. 

Sailing isn't fun but luckily they reach the first port a week after they leave Kyoshi Island and decide to first travel to Omashu, aiding any of those in need on their journey there, all while taking the short-cut advised to them by the locals. Aiko and Kimi's kiss is the love that lights their way through the tunnel safely.

They spend the next couple of weeks in the city of Omashu, restocking and figuring a plan from there. They decide to just do what they've been doing, instead of outright fighting amongst the armies, they figure that directly helping the people affected by the Fire Nation pillaging their villages will be the best way to help. And they spend the next month fighting against oppressive army occupations in Earth Kingdom towns and delivering food and supplies to the people hit hardest by blockades from Earth Kingdom aid by the Fire Nation navy. 

They have no clear destination they're traveling to but then they get the opportunity to help refugees who travel with nothing else but the clothes on their backs and the shoes on their feet to find solace in Ba Sing Se by becoming guards at Full Moon Bay, keeping Fire Nation out of the hidden ferry port and keeping others safe from thieves trying to take advantage of suffering people. 

The job is fulfilling and Suki knows that she and her girls are doing all they can to help people in these troubling times. And yet there's still something nagging in the back of her mind to do more. 

**~*~*~**

Finding Sokka again is like breathing in the cool air during a thunder storm on a hot summer day. It’s refreshing and comforting at the same time. 

Traveling with Sokka, his friends, and a couple of strangers through a narrow, dangerous path is like sleeping on a bed of nails. It’s stressful and painful all at once. 

But being in Sokka’s company again after so long is nice, even if the guy is being overbearing and protective. But she can’t completely blame him. They're soulmates fighting in a war, and so, of course, they’re going to worry about each other’s safety. 

And yet somehow Sokka is going even farther beyond the acceptable amount of protectiveness so she tells him off and he walks away to give Suki her space. But once she cools down, she decides to find Sokka and talk with him. 

Sitting on the cliff-side and staring up at the bright and beautiful full-moon, Sokka confides in Suki that he met someone he wishes was their third but who died in the North Pole during a siege led by the Fire Nation. And Suki is both upset that she couldn’t meet this person and baffled that so much time has passed since they first met on Kyoshi Island. Because when she first met Sokka he was trying to get to the South Pole to find Aang a water bending teacher and now he's got one and an earth bending teacher too. 

“I’ve missed you, you know,” Sokka tells her as he scoots closer and rests his head on her shoulder. Suki smiles at the physical affection and returns it by resting her head against Sokka’s. 

“I’ve missed you too.” She tells him honestly.

“And I know it’s weird since we only knew each other for a few days before I had to leave... but I felt so empty afterward and now suddenly, I’m not.” Sokka chuckles a bit at that, the weight of the conversation growing a little lighter. 

“Usually, soulmates get longer than a few hours of finding out they’re soulmates to be with each other,” Suki says. 

“Yeah...Aang and Katara have been inseparable since they’ve met.” Sokka says with a pained laugh. 

“One day we’ll get that too,” She assures. 

Sokka says nothing but nods.

Later, as Sokka recalls some of the craziest parts of his adventures in the past few months, he rests his hand on top of Suki's, his ring finger and pinky finger gripping around her first and middle fingers. His callouses tickle against her skin, and she finds that his hands run cold and fit perfectly in her own warmer than average hands. 

Suki too shares some of the things she encountered during her travels and finds that Sokka also knows King Bumi of Omashu. 

The conversation between them stalls for a moment as they both stare up at the night sky, watching the twinkling white lights of the stars above them and while listening to all the growing snores of their friends and travel companions around them. 

But something gnaws at Suki's gut and she finds herself speaking again.

“After you guys left, my warriors and I helped get everyone situated outside the village, in front of the statue of Kyoshi,” Suki says and then bites her lip. “I was so angry at the Fire Nation for burning down my home…” She swallows and lets a few tears slip past her lashes and fall down her cheeks. 

“Did you…?”

“No,” Suki says immediately. “I thought about it, cried for who knows how long on the beach that night with the blade of my knife pressed against my wrist and I just couldn’t do it…” She sighs and holds back a sob, "does that make me weak?"

"What?" Sokka asks. "No, that doesn't make you weak...probably makes you stronger than me...since I assume you’d actually want to meet them then?”

“Yes, I do,” Suki says honestly, “I can’t just judge someone based upon the atrocious actions of others...it wouldn’t be right.” 

“You have a bigger heart than I ever could,” Sokka says shamefully. 

And Suki frowns and turns towards Sokka, the outline of his face illuminated by the milky moonlight above. “You have a big heart too, you know...when you’re not being a sexist jerk.” She says, playfully jabbing her elbow into Sokka’s side and he laughs, if only for a moment. 

“I’d like to think I wouldn’t be completely pissed off at our third,” Sokka says seriously. “But every time I envision their face, I just see the face of the enemy and I can’t bring myself to be happy about that. I’m sorry.” Sokka says, his head hanging in shame. 

“You have nothing to be sorry about.” Suki quickly defends. “You’ve been hurt worse by the Fire Nation than I probably ever will be, so I understand that you won’t be as open to the idea of meeting our third as I am.” Then she frowns before adding; "also you're not weak for cutting out our third anymore than I am not weak for not doing it." 

"I hope whoever they are that they appreciate the turmoil we've had to go through because of them," Sokka mutters darkly and its a first Suki's ever seen him so serious. 

"I have a feeling they probably are facing the same turmoil," Suki tells him. 

“I was told by some crazy psychic lady that we’d both meet our soulmate when we’re ready to meet them and when they’re ready to meet us...and though I don't believe in psychics, she might just be right..."

“I can see where she would be right." 

“She also said we’d all be power people.”

“Well," Suki hums, thinking, "one day you’ll be chief of your tribe and I’ll still be the captain of the Kyoshi Warriors...that means that whoever our third will be might just be the person to end the line of tyrannical rulers in the Fire Nation,” Suki says clearly joking. 

“So like the future Fire Lord or something?” Sokka laughs. 

“Maybe so,” Suki responds with a tiny snort. 

They sit together for a little while longer in the dark, not talking but just enjoying each other's company since they're already running on limited time anyway. And when the two of them retire for bed, Suki snuggles close to her soulmate, smiling from the warmth of his tight embrace.

And as Suki falls asleep that night, she dreams of herself, Sokka and their third living happily together in the hopefully near future, in love and perfectly safe and content with life. 

**~*~*~**

A couple of days after Suki helps escort Sokka, Katara, Aang, and Toph through the Serpent's Pass, Suki decides its time for her and her girls to move on from Full Moon Bay and help more directly with the war effort by going into Ba Sing Se themselves. She doesn't know what'll happen next, just that she needs to be ready to actually fight now that the Fire Nation is trying, yet again, to infiltrate the city. 

But for now, Suki's mind is boggled by the destruction in front of her. 

“Must have been some fight,” Ju Lin says as she, Suki, and the other girls observe the forest terrain around them. Uprooted trees, torn up bushes, and the grass completely ripped out from the ground and forming a jagged dirt path up the hill. 

Suki purses her lips and then her eyes focus on the clump of off-white fur in Ju Lin’s hands. 

“Wait, let me see that,” Suki says and then Ju Lin hands her the clump of fur. “No...it couldn’t be…” Suki looks up at the path of destruction and notices more and more clumps of fur littering the trail.

Suki instructs the girls to stay behind and then she begins following the trail of fur. Her feet carry her along the dirt path, uphill on a once-grassy land now destroyed by whatever crashed onto it.

But if the theory Suki has formed in her head is correct, whatever crashed into the hill is probably something—well someone—she knows. 

As she makes her way to the top of the hill, Suki wonders why they would crash and hopes the situation isn’t life-threatening. She knows Appa was sold by sand benders. And she also knows that Appa is the last of his species. His kind would make great meat for the gluttonous stomach of some nobleman and an excellent coat for his wife looking to flaunt her status and her husband’s money. 

But Suki pushes those thoughts out of her head for now. Because she doesn’t even know if what crashed into the hill is Appa or not. 

Suki gasps when she reaches the top, “Appa?” She asks when she sees the mangled and dirty version of the sweet bison she met briefly on Kyoshi Island all those months ago. “Oh no.” She mutters as Appa backs away from her into the opening of a small cave. He growls, low, but loud enough for Suki to understand. 

He’s terrified. 

Suki frowns and quickly searches for anything edible around. She has a couple of apples in her satchel that she can give him. But Appa is a big animal with a stomach that is just as large as him and who knows how long it's been since he’s last eaten anything. 

She finds a safe berry bush on the top of the hill and she collects the sweet fruits for Appa and hopes that it's enough to last him until she can go back to her girls and get more food and other supplies to help him. 

Suki walks closer to Appa, slow and steady, and kneels to place the apples and berries onto the ground for him to eat. “It's gonna be okay, Appa,” Suki says as she stands up and then slowly backs away from the food to give Appa the space he needs, “I have to leave, but I'm gonna be back soon with help.” She tells him before bounding off down the hill to her girls. 

Once she’s down the hill, she explains the situation to the girls. They’re all sympathetic, of course, and eager to help Appa, so they quickly gather some more food for the bison and some supplies to clean him up. She only got a glimpse of him, but she could see the dirt and grime coating his fur even in the shadows of the cave he was hiding in. 

“No sudden movements,” Suki tells the girls as she leads them slowly up the side of the hill, “he's been lost for a while and he looks like he's hurt.” She then adds, “he's shy around people and scared. Stay low and stay quiet.”

“I can't believe you found the Avatar's bison,” Ju Lin says, “Didn't you just see the Avatar a few days ago?”

“Yes, so he can't be too far from here,” Suki says as she continues up the hill, “It's our responsibility to get Appa back to him safely. This could be our most important mission yet.” She tells them. 

When Suki and the other Kyoshi Warriors peer over the hilltop, Appa growls at them, and Suki tells the girls to give him some space. 

Suki, however, takes a step forward despite Appa’s growls of protest. “Appa, it's me, Suki. I'm a friend,” she says as she slowly approaches him. “I want to help you.” Suki says, “you're hurt, we can help you feel better.” She tries to assure the bison, hoping that he can understand her words so she can help him without getting herself or the girls hurt and without scaring Appa off someplace else. 

Appa continues to growl at her but Suki persists, “And we can help you find Aang.” She says once she’s close enough to the bison to pet him. Appa growls grow softer at the mention of Aang, and Suki smiles as she places her hands on Appa's soft nose. She gently pats his nose and Appa lies down with Suki kneeling in front of him and petting his matted fur. 

He’s still skittish, but he gives Suki the okay to let her and her warriors help him. 

They feed Appa apples in between removing the metal shackles around his feet and are careful to remove the boarqupine quills from his fur. Then they clean him off while still feeding him an assortment of berries and other fruits they’ve brought with them. They’ll have to resupply their food later, but helping Appa is worth it. 

Appa licks Aiko, thanking her for helping him, and Suki smiles at the display of affection. 

Suddenly, there’s the sound of footsteps coming their way and lightning strikes a nearby tree. 

“My, my, you're easy to find.” A voice says, “It's really astounding my brother hasn't captured you yet.”

Quickly, Suki and the girls jump in front of Appa, ready to protect him. Their shield fans open up to give them a more defensive barrier around them but whoever the three girls in front of them look powerful and Suki knows not to underestimate them. 

“What do you want with us?” Suki asks. 

Going completely ignored, the girl leading the other two girls says, “Who are you? The Avatar's fangirls?”

The girl in pink looks ecstatic at the other girl’s words—Azula, the bubbly girl in pink calls her—and Suki holds back the urge to roll her eyes. Instead, she says, “If you're looking for the Avatar, you're out of luck.” 

“I knew this was a waste of time,” the third girl says. 

“No Avatar, huh? Well, that's okay. Any friend of the Avatar is an enemy of mine!” And suddenly there’s a hot flash of blue fire thrown in their direction. 

Hua Chen and Aimi fight against the third girl and are both quickly apprehended by her throwing stars while Kimi fights against the girl in pink. Meanwhile, Suki is busy defending Appa from Azula’s fire bending. 

When a burning branch falls to the ground and scares Appa, both Suki and Azula notice this and Suki knows that she needs to get Appa away from these girls as soon as possible. 

Unsheathing her sword, Suki waves it in Appa’s face, hoping that he’d leave. “Go, Appa! Fly away from here!” She cries and then charges with her sword at Azula. Suki sees Appa leave just as Azula fires another blast at her, which she just barely blocks with her shield. Suki then runs and tries kicking Azula, but the girl uses the opportunity to knock down Suki.

Distressed by the fighting, Appa returns to help. Azula grins when Appa lands and she prepares to strike another fire bending blast, but then Hana throws her fans at Azula. The firebender, however, evades the fans and kicks a fire bending blast at Hana and pursues her. 

Taking the chance to save Appa again, Suki quickly stands up and waves a torch in Appa’s face. She hates that she has to scare him so badly to get him to leave, but they can’t afford for the Fire Nation to capture him. 

“Get out of here! You have to find Aang! We'll be okay!” Suki assures and watches thankfully as Appa flies away once more. Once Appa is finally gone Suki breathes in relief but the fight isn’t over. A fire blast hits Suki's shield and she steps back and wields her fan at Azula once more. 

Suki looks around and sees her girls are struggling despite their advantage in numbers. 

But Suki won’t go down without a fight and she charges at Azula with her sword and the two clash. 

Suddenly, Suki hears Aiko call out her name, and then there’s a pain in the back of her skull and for a moment the world stops and mutes itself before everything around her goes black and Suki falls unconscious. 

**~*~*~**

Suki wakes up in a metal cell, her vision is blurry, and it’s dark like she’s underground or in a cave. She wakes up stripped of her under armor, warrior’s dress, over armor, supply belt, headdress, and boots. She’s left wearing her undergarments and a pair of baggy dark green pants and a loose-fitting dark green shirt that seems to fall off her shoulders. Someone undressed and redressed her, likely whoever locked her away in the cells she’s in. 

Her mouth is dry and there’s a ringing in her ears, but she doesn’t feel any pain beyond that. 

Suki’s eyes finally adjust to the dim light around her and she looks around to see she’s not alone in the cell. She’s sharing it with her girls and they’re all watching her intently. 

“We were so worried!” Hana exclaims in a hushed whisper. 

“Are you alright?” Suki asks them as she attempts to sit up. 

“We’re okay.” Kimi answers for the group. “We’re wondering if you’re okay?”

“I’m good,” Suki tells her. “Do you know where we are?”

“Underground prison of Ba Sing Se, the Fire Princess, and her friends are posing as Kyoshi Warriors to get close to the Earth King and the Avatar.” Ju Lin says. 

Dammit! 

“We need to break out of here then.” Suki decides. 

“How do you suppose we do that?” Aiko asks her.

And Suki smiles, she’s got an idea, a risky idea, but one nonetheless. 

For a week, the girls save the spoons from their dinner trays, keeping them hidden within the pockets of their prison garbs and within their undergarments when necessary. The cell they’re in is metal, but only the walls and ceilings, the ground is bare, hard, but not stone, so they’re digging their way out. 

At least enough to stick their arms out from underneath the door in an almost feeble attempt at picking the lock. 

By the next week, they’ve dug their hole, but they quickly get caught by the Dai Li and are moved to an all-metal cell, one made especially for benders so they can’t get out easily like before. 

But Suki has another idea up her sleeve. 

Using her own menstrual blood, she makes it appear like one of the other girls went insane and attacked her. First, she bites her arms, making indented wounds into her skin before she paints her arms, stomach, chest, and neck with the blood and screams as Hua Chen pretends to attack her. 

The other girls cry and scream for the guards, saying Hua Chen has rabies from getting bit by a bat-mouse. 

The Dai Li shows up in record time, subdues Hua Chen, and Suki pretends to be unconscious as they carry her out of the cell. Suki and the girls agreed that they had to let Suki get away first, she’d come back for them after she finds and warns Aang and the Earth King of the undercover attack from the imposter Kyoshi Warriors in his palace. 

Suki won’t jump the gun just yet, because she doesn’t know how to get out of the caverns and can’t risk getting caught or getting lost. 

She’s taken to an infirmary and once the Dai Li agents are gone, off to find a healer, Suki notices a boy with a fever beside her. He’s dark-skinned, with shaggy dark brown hair, and has a permanent scowl on his face. He looks like he’s having a nightmare of some sort and Suki wonders 1) what he’s sick with and 2) what he did to get arrested by the Dai Li. 

But Suki's focus returns and she gets up from the medical bed and doesn't even bother taking the time to clean herself up.

Instead, Suki looks around for anything she can use to advantage to help her escape or to subdue any opponents that come her way. There are a bunch of medicinal herbs for fever, cough, and runny nose, some strong muscle numbing cream, and some stronger sleep-aid medicine that could put a full-grown koalaphant into a coma. 

She mixes that medicine into a powder and keeps it on her person to blow into a guard's face. She also takes the tub of the muscle numbing cream so use on the Dai Li agents. She only has one chance at this and she can’t afford to fail. 

The Dai Li return and Suki quickly stuns them with the powder and stuff their mouths so they can’t call for help. 

“Point me in the direction out of this place.” She demands and though the older agent doesn’t budge, the younger one does, pointing Suki towards the exit and earning himself a glare from the older man. 

Suki then sneaks out of the door, watching her front and back as best as she can and moving in the exit's direction. 

When she breaks out, she stands on a boulder in the middle of a lake, and in the distance, she sees more Dai Li agents running in her direction. 

“A prisoner has escaped!” They call and Suki only has one option to continue her prison-break. She has to jump into the lake and avoid the ground because the Dai Li can't bend the water but they can bend the earth.

Suki dives into the lake, and through the murky water, she swims across to the other side of the shore to avoid the Dai Li agents. 

But suddenly, the ground underneath her rises and encloses all around her. 

She’ll drown if they cover her head with earth, but she’ll be captured again if she swims to the surface. 

Suki decides she needs to live in order to attempt escaping again, so she swims to the surface, and immediately the earth cages around her and lifts her in the air. 

Her rocky prison is set back on land and yet again, she’s failed at escaping.

Suki is taken back to her cell and if Suki didn’t know any better, she would think she would have another chance but this time was too close for everyone involved. Which means Suki will be moved out of the cell with her girls and someplace else. 

Soaked to the bone and physically defeated, Suki slumps against the wall of her cell and tells her girls she’d been so close. But the timing wasn’t quite right. 

The other Kyoshi Warriors just hug her and tell her they’ll find a way out soon. 

But not soon enough because the Dai Li escort Suki out of her cell the next day and into a small room with nothing but a chair in the center of the dimly lit room. 

“Princess Azula will be with you momentarily.” A guard tells her and Suki can feel the blood drain from her face, she’s faced the princess before and it ended with her in prison. She’s already in prison now, so she knows she probably doesn’t have much time left. 

_I’m sorry, Sokka, I’ll try to hold on for you._ Suki silently prays as she awaits her fate. 

Suki is left waiting for a few moments longer and then the door opens. 

“I may have underestimated your stupidity,” Azula says. “Two escape attempts within two weeks? I’d say I’m surprised, but then again, your soulmate is that annoying Water Tribe boy.”

Suki keeps her mouth shut, but if glares could kill, the princess wouldn’t be a problem anymore. 

“Mai and Ty Lee tell me you’re the girl’s leader, that it’s been your idea to escape this whole time, and I thought I was being nice and accommodating for you and your friends, a nice cell and two meals a day, and yet that’s not enough for you, huh?”

Suki doesn’t speak and that, of course, infuriates the princess further.

A dagger made of blue flames emerges in Azula’s hand and she takes it and holds it up against Suki’s neck. 

Suki doesn’t react, instead she takes a deep breath and lets the princess play her scare tactic.  
  
“You’re tougher than I thought,” Azula smirks and then pulls the blade of fire away from Suki’s throat. 

And Suki returns the smug grin. 

“You’ve made a lot of trouble for yourself, I think this prison is too soft on their prisoners, most of them get released after a bit of mind-breaking anyway…” Her voice trails off like she’s thinking about her next move, “I suppose there is a better prison for you, the Boiling Rock would love to take you, they might even break you too.”

“Let them try.” Suki spits and Azula chuckles at that. 

“I’ll make sure the guards give you extra special treatment then.” 

And the princess grins and calls for the Dai Li to get Suki ready for transport, Azula then turns around to make her leave and doesn’t even turn back. 

Suki is forcefully grabbed by her arms and she’s dragged towards a small metal box. It has one window, the walls bolted together, and the door’s lock made of something entirely different from the lock’s Suki is used to. The metal box is also chained to the back of an ostrich-horse drawn carriage. 

She’s thrown into the box and quickly the door is slammed shut and then locked. Within a few seconds, the ostrich-horses pull the carriage at the command of the driver. 

Suki allows herself to sit and meditate on the floor of her tiny prison, knowing she’s going to need to be strong for whatever is waiting for her at the Boiling Rock. 

She’s let out once in a port-city outside of Ba Sing Se so that she is allowed to use the bathroom and is given one meal which consists of mushy rice and a slice of dry-salted meat, likely cow-pig meat. It tastes awful, but she eats to keep up her strength. 

Then she’s taken back to her metal box and is transferred onto a ship, a Fire Nation ship, going towards a Fire Nation prison. 

Suki arrives at the Boiling Rock about four days after being taken out of Ba Sing Se. Three of these days Suki spends them in the metal box sitting chained to the deck of the ship. It’s from the deck of the ship she can hear the soldiers talking amongst each other. 

Some days, it’s mindless gossip, but on the last day of sailing, she hears something that breaks her heart, 

“Princess Azula took over Ba Sing Se and did what the former General couldn’t, but the Earth King was already taken away from the palace by some kids, some earth bending girl and two others Water Tribe I think.”

Sokka, Toph, and Katara got away then, Suki realizes, hopeful, and grateful at the same time. 

“I heard that the banished prince is no longer banished, that he lifted the treason from his record because he killed the Avatar.” 

_No, not Aang._

Suki staggers back, her body hits hard against the warm metal wall of her cage and she falls to her knees. Aang’s dead, their last hope for peace, gone. 

And because they have killed all but one of the Southern Water Tribe water benders, the baby born from Aang’s untimely demise will be hunted and killed as soon as the Fire Nation figures out who that child is. 

A sudden thought phases through her head, something so cruel it makes Suki retch. Maybe the Fire Nation won’t even wait until the child born on the day Aang died grows old enough to figure out they are the Avatar. They can easily travel to the Water Tribe and kill all infants born that day.

But then Suki remembers that Sokka is the oldest man in the Water Tribe since all the men left home to join the war efforts. This means there aren’t any pregnant women in the Southern Tribe, so it’s likely the new Avatar will be born in the North. 

Suki prays to the spirits the Northern Water Tribe has recovered from the siege in time to defend their infants from the Fire Nation. Then she prays for Aang to find peace in the afterlife, the Last Airbender finally reunited with the Air Nomad spirits from the past. Then she prays for Katara, who lost her soulmate far too soon than anyone should. Lastly, she prays for Sokka and hopes he’s able to go on without her for a little while longer. 

She cries herself into exhaustion and wakes up the next morning to two guards with chains, waiting to escort her into the next mode of transportation. 

The terrain around Suki is rocky, uneven, and dangerously warm for an island in the middle of the ocean. But she realizes that it’s no island, it’s a volcano. A flooded volcano. The name Boiling Rock finally makes sense. 

Suki is chained at her wrists and ankles and taken onto a gondola and is chained to about a dozen other prisoners being taken to the same fate she’s about to face. 

**~*~*~**

She’s only in prison for three days when Azula comes to grace her with her presence again. 

“Your soulmate is planning an invasion,” she says nonchalantly, “I did some digging, a little research, and espionage, and found out the day he plans to attack the Fire Nation, I thought I’d let you know the day your soulmark turns grey.” And she looks Suki in the eyes and smiles with a grin that belongs to the women told about in the fairytales of evil stepmothers and wicked witches. 

But it doesn’t get Suki to break; she refuses to talk to the princess. 

Azula’s grin turns into a glare and if Suki didn’t know any better, she would call the princess out on her pouting. 

“Let’s see how you enjoy the royal treatment here,” Azula says and before Suki can think of a witty response she wasn't even going to vocalize, the princess shouts for the guards. 

Quickly, four guards burst into the interrogation room, and Suki raises her hands in surrender. The one guard, a smelly middle-aged man, throws her against the wall and pins her down between her shoulder blades. The second guard, a woman, pats Suki down for any weapons, and the third guard chains her hands behind her back and drags her out of the room, all while the fourth guard talks with Azula, asking her what happened. 

Suki doesn’t get to hear what she has to say, but she knows that she’s lying. 

She’s thrown in isolation, the one meant for non-benders. It's a tiny cell, much like the metal box she was brought to the prison in. But this one smells worse, like urine and feces. But thankfully she doesn’t see it, because the guards have some decency and get the rooms cleaned, but never wash them the right way. 

Two days into her isolation, she understands why it smells so bad, and contributes to the ever-growing amount of smells in the room. 

When Suki is let out of isolation and back into her cell, she finds that she actually missed the place. She lies on the metal cot against the wall for the entire day until she’s forced out for afternoon yard time. 

The other prisoners often give Suki lots of undesirable, glances from some men probably wondering if they can get her cornered and alone long enough to assault her. The other looks are from women who seem to want to size her up and tell her not to steal their prison boyfriends with her young and exotic looks. 

But the vast majority don’t pay mind to her, even when she accidentally bumps into them in the mess hall, they shrug it off and don’t even try to fight her. 

Suki is also surprised when she overhears some of the things the prisoners have to say about their own Nation, and what led them to be arrested. 

“I managed to avoid the draft for three years until I was caught, told the army general in charge of taking me in where he could shove it.” A boy, no older than twenty says to a group of prisoners. Suki’s sitting at their table but isn’t exactly included in the conversation, but she listens anyway. 

“I was arrested for writing my research paper on the inevitable fall of the Fire Nation, I didn’t even name drop the Fire Lord or any of his family members, just pointed out that history doesn’t favor empires that stretch far beyond their borders.” A woman in her mid-twenties says. 

“I wrote a fictional story exploring the possibility that Fire Lord Sozin and Avatar Roku were soulmates but Roku rejected him for his beliefs.” Some older guy says. 

“I held a protest in the Capital City demanding the war to end, so I think I win here.” An older woman boasts. 

“A pep rally is nothing compared to actively fucking up military orders to save the lives of Earth Kingdom families.” Another guy says. 

“Oh please, I drove out half a fleet away from the North Pole on the day of the siege, saving the lives of a dozen drafted kids in my platoon.”

“My grandfather was an Air Nomad living in the Fire Nation when the others were wiped out, someone figured out my heritage and I was just arrested, I can’t even air bend.”

Finally, Suki can’t take it anymore. 

“You’re all against the war?” She finds herself asking. 

And she has about a dozen pairs of eyes on her, all of them from her table thankfully. 

“You’re the Kyoshi Island girl?” The woman who wrote her paper on the fall of the Fire Nation Empire asks her. 

“Yes, I am the Captain of the Kyoshi Warriors, my name is Suki.” She tells them. 

“You don’t think there are people in the Fire Nation against the war?’ Air Nomad descendant asks. 

“I just always assumed that everyone was either just evil or too scared to say anything.” She answers truthfully.

There's a moment of silence at the table and Suki worries she's offended them.

“Kid, there are hundreds of people, thousands even, who want the war over, who want the current Fire Lord taken off the throne, and the world to be peaceful again,” The youngest guy says. 

“Sadly if you’re vocal about it you end up like us, so most people just figure it’s safer to shut up and follow orders.”

“I see…” Suki mutters. “I mean I’d always hoped that…” She stops herself from finishing the last sentence though.

However, it seems like some have already figured it out.

“You’re soulmate is Fire Nation huh?” The older woman leading protests asks her. 

And Suki nods, “my other soulmate is Water Tribe, I’ve already met him, but he cut off his mark...I wasn’t able to go through with it when I tried to do it myself.” She tells them even though she's not sure why she's confiding in a bunch of strangers. 

“The Spirits are usually correct about the soulmate thing, so if you’re lucky whoever they are will be like us,”

“So a prisoner?” She jabs and everyone erupts into laughter. 

It's odd but it's also very comforting to see the human side of the Fire Nation in a prison of all places.

**~*~*~**

Suki is visited by Azula again a week after she makes a couple of friends within the prison. It's still strange, befriending a few people from the Fire Nation, but they all look out for each other and it’s nice. Or as nice as it can be. 

Azula is still not pulling her punches, this time she has Suki strapped to a chair as she interrogates her. But like the other times, Suki refuses to answer her questions, and like the other times, Azula is clearly annoyed yet amused. 

“I don’t want to have to resort to actual torture huh? It’s too messy for me, but I’d also prefer to be the one to get you to talk.”

Suki is silent, she doesn’t even move, even though the restraints around her wrists are tight and uncomfortable. She’s starting to feel the numbing sensation running up her arms from being strapped down and her legs from sitting in this position for so long. 

But even with the threat of torture, Suki doesn’t give Azula the reaction she wants and that pisses her off enough to let up and leave Suki be for another day. 

But the peace doesn’t last long though because a week later, she's back, but this time Suki isn't escorted out of her cell. 

“I didn’t mention it last time, but your soulmate, the Water Tribe peasant, doesn’t know that I and the entirety of the royal family and the Fire Nation Army already knows his plans about the invasion,” Azula says as she waltzes into Suki’s cell. This time her interrogation is from the comforts of her cell and not from any other place. 

Suki doesn’t even flinch at the mention of Sokka. She trusts he knows not to go into battle unprepared. He’s got to know that he can’t just invade the Fire Nation, that he needs to plan for every little thing that can go wrong and can go right. 

“I’ll spare you the boring details, but he believes that my father will simply stay in the palace on the one day a firebender can’t bend and so his plan will fail and when it does he’ll be arrested and killed for trying to take down the Fire Lord.” 

“Sokka is smart.” Suki finds herself saying. “I have faith he’ll be able to succeed.”

“Oh, the weakness that comes with knowing who your soulmates are,” Azula says as she shakes her head and walks closer towards Suki. “You’re too blind to see past the obvious.”

However, Suki doesn’t respond to this.

“He’s running into a trap,” Azula tells her. “He and his invasion force will fail and be killed the moment they set foot into the capital.” 

And with that, Azula turns as leaves, slamming the cell door behind her. 

Suki stares, stunned, and as her eyes begin to start blinking she can feel the tears running down her face. 

It’s a trap. 

The invasion will fail. 

Sokka will die. 

And Suki will spend the rest of her life trapped in a prison cell on the Boiling Rock with only a third of a complete soul.

She won't ever be able to go home, to be with her soulmates like she's always dreamed of, to rescue her girls from their own prisons, or to see and hug her mothers ever again. 

The thought is enough to kill her, but Suki stays strong, or at least strong enough to wait and see what the outcome of the invasion will be. 

But the invasion is still weeks away, so still, Suki can only hope that somehow, Sokka and the others will succeed in their task, because she knows that if they fail, there will truly be no other hope in defeating the Fire Nation and stopping the war. 

As the days drag on, Suki tries to keep her hopes high for her soulmate’s sake and her friends’ sake. But the longer she dwells on the inevitable trap waiting for Sokka on the day of the invasion, the more she finds that hope depleting. 

And when Suki is allowed yard time, sometimes she just spends the entire time staring up at the sky, her indigo eyes looking up into the clouds hoping to see a familiar outline made entirely of white fluff coming towards her to not only rescue her but to also assure her that not all is lost. 

But that outline of fur never comes into view. 

On the day of the invasion, there is a riot, but Suki isn’t strong enough to join in. Her mental and physical strength haven taken a toll in her weeks in prison dreading Sokka's fate on this day. 

But as the sun disappears behind the black orb in the sky and then reappears just minutes later, Suki dreads looking down at her soulmark, having avoided doing so during the entirety of the day. 

When Suki manages to force herself to look, she's stunned. She sees the blue, black, and silver of the soulmark standing bright against her wrist like it always does and she lets out a slow and staggering breath that quickly turns into a sob. 

Sokka is alive and that fact alone is enough to keep her going. 

In the days following the eclipse, Suki’s hope for change is still present, but her hopes of getting out of prison sink lower and lower every day.

Some days she sees Appa in the sky but the illusion is just that, an illusion. The fluff of the clouds looming above Suki only teases her menacingly with false hope for the ultimately far-off chance she has of freedom. 

And though Suki will remain in the Boiling Rock for who knows how long, she's just glad that Sokka is alive and that the chance for taking down the Fire Lord and achieving peace might still be there. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a bit longer than expected tbh. But it's done! And I think I've captured Suki's POV pretty well lol.
> 
> Also holy shit so many people like this and I'm so happy! Thank you to everyone who has read this and who has kudos'd, commented, and bookmarked it. It really means a lot to me. 
> 
> Zuko's chapter is up next and well, it's Zuko so heed the warnings in the tags!

**Author's Note:**

> Zukka might be trending the most on Tumblr right now, but Sokka/Suki? Beautiful. Zuko/Suki? Amazing. Sokka/Suki/Zuko? Talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, showstopping, spectacular. 
> 
> Basically, the three of them each have two hands and can rotate who's in the middle when they take walks together through the palace gardens.


End file.
